Pregnant actress charged in ricin case

TEXARKANA, Texas – A pregnant Texas actress who first told the FBI that her husband sent ricin-tainted letters to President Barack Obama and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, then allegedly said she sent them because her husband “made her” do it, was charged Friday with threatening the president.

Shannon Guess Richardson, 35, appeared in a Texarkana courtroom after being charged with mailing a threatening communication to the president. The federal charge carries up to 10 years in prison.

Richardson, a mother of five who has played bit roles on television and in movies, was arrested earlier Friday for allegedly mailing the ricin-laced letters last month to the White House, Bloomberg and the mayor’s Washington gun-control group. The letters – which authorities determined were mailed from Richardson’s hometown of New Boston or nearby Texarkana and postmarked in Shreveport, La. – threatened violence against gun-control advocates, authorities said.

However, Richardson’s court-appointed attorney, Tonda Curry, said there was no intention to harm anyone. She noted that it’s common knowledge that the mail is checked before it reaches the person to whom these letters were addressed.

According to an FBI affidavit, Richardson contacted authorities May 30 to implicate her estranged husband, Nathaniel Richardson. She later failed a polygraph test, and investigators looking into her story found numerous inconsistencies, the document said.

During an interview with authorities Thursday, Shannon Richardson admitted mailing the letters knowing they contained ricin, but she said her husband had typed them and made her print and send them, the affidavit said.

No charges have been filed against Nathaniel Richardson. His attorney, John Delk, told the Associated Press Friday that his client was pleased with his wife’s arrest and was working with authorities to prove his innocence.