Teh One Who Knocks
04-18-2013, 10:55 AM
FOX News and The Associated Press
http://i.imgur.com/VyRXhRi.jpg
A Mississippi man has been arrested as a suspect in connection to the mailing of three letters sent to President Obama, Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and a Mississippi official that initially tested positive for ricin, Fox News confirms.
The Department of Justice said Paul Kevin Curtis, 45, was arrested at his Corinth, Miss., home Wednesday afternoon following an investigation conducted by the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces in Memphis, Tenn., and Jackson, Miss., the U.S. Capitol Police, and the U.S. Postal Service, the U.S. Secret Service.
The FBI confirmed earlier Wednesday that a letter addressed to President Obama had "preliminarily tested positive" for ricin, a day after lawmakers said another letter sent to the Capitol Hill office of Sen. Roger Wicker tested positive for the same substance.
Curtis believed he had uncovered a conspiracy to sell human body parts on the black market and sometimes performed as an Elvis Presley impersonator, the Associated Press reported.
Both letters said: "To see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance." Both were signed, "I am KC and I approve this message."
Ricky Curtis, who said he was Kevin Curtis' cousin, said the family was shocked by the news of the arrest. He described his cousin as a "super entertainer" who impersonated Elvis and numerous other singers.
"We're all in shock. I don't think anybody had a clue that this kind of stuff was weighing on his mind," Ricky Curtis said in a telephone interview.
Ricky Curtis said his cousin had written about problems he had with a cleaning business and that he felt the government had not treated him well, but he said nobody in the family would have expected this. He said the writings were titled, "Missing Pieces."
Multiple online posts on various websites under the name Kevin Curtis refer to the conspiracy he claimed to uncover when working at a local hospital from 1998 to 2000.
The author wrote the conspiracy that began when he "discovered a refrigerator full of dismembered body parts & organs wrapped in plastic in the morgue of the largest non-metropolitan healthcare organization in the United States of America."
In one post, Curtis said he sent letters to Wicker and other politicians.
In a statement following the announcement of the arrest, Wicker thanked FBI and Capitol Police for their "professionalism and decisive action" in keeping his family and staff "safe from harm."
Wicker assured Mississippians that both his offices in Mississippi and Washington remained open for business and thanked the people of Mississippi for their thoughts and prayers.
The warnings came amid a flurry of reports on suspicious packages. Fox News learned of several suspicious packages or envelopes in various Capitol Hill office buildings, and Capitol Police said three packages that were flagged had been removed.
Separately, the office of Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., reported a "suspicious-looking letter" at one of the senator's Michigan offices; and a spokesman for Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., reported a "suspicious letter" was intercepted at Flake's Phoenix office. Authorities were also called to the Dallas office of Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, over what was described only as "a piece of mail" -- but field tests later came back negative.
According to a Homeland Security Department handbook, ricin is deadliest when inhaled. It is not contagious, but there is no antidote. A senior Congressional source familiar with the inquiry into the letters sent to President Obama and Sen.Wicker told Fox News that the ricin was "low grade" and "not weaponized."
The package alerts compounded security concerns in the wake of the letter incidents and the Boston bombing, which the FBI has said do not appear to be related.
Both of the initial suspicious letters were apparently intercepted on Tuesday. They never reached the Hill or the White House.
An FBI bulletin obtained by Fox News said the letter sent to Obama is still being screened, though it initially tested positive.
The bulletin said both letters included the phrase: "To see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance."
Both were signed, "I am KC and I approve this message."
The envelopes had Tennessee postmarks, but no return address.
Obama's press secretary, Jay Carney, said mail sent to the White House is screened at a remote site for the safety of the recipients and the general public. He declined to comment on the significance of the preliminary ricin result, referring questions to the FBI.
Capitol Police swiftly ramped up security, and lawmakers and staff were cautioned away from some parts of the Hill complex. After hours of jangled nerves, officials signaled it was safe to move throughout the area and people settled back to normal, if watchful, activity.
Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Terrance Gainer said that an individual who was responsible for simultaneous suspicious-package incidents in the Hart and Russell Senate office buildings on Tuesday was detained and released on Wednesday. The packages were not hazardous.
Gainer said the man was "not particularly harmful, although terribly disruptive."
Sources has said Tuesday that officials were familiar with the person believed to have sent the letters as the person was thought to have sent other letters before.
The mail-screening system was established after the Anthrax attacks of 2001 that closed the Hart Senate Office Building.
http://i.imgur.com/VyRXhRi.jpg
A Mississippi man has been arrested as a suspect in connection to the mailing of three letters sent to President Obama, Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and a Mississippi official that initially tested positive for ricin, Fox News confirms.
The Department of Justice said Paul Kevin Curtis, 45, was arrested at his Corinth, Miss., home Wednesday afternoon following an investigation conducted by the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces in Memphis, Tenn., and Jackson, Miss., the U.S. Capitol Police, and the U.S. Postal Service, the U.S. Secret Service.
The FBI confirmed earlier Wednesday that a letter addressed to President Obama had "preliminarily tested positive" for ricin, a day after lawmakers said another letter sent to the Capitol Hill office of Sen. Roger Wicker tested positive for the same substance.
Curtis believed he had uncovered a conspiracy to sell human body parts on the black market and sometimes performed as an Elvis Presley impersonator, the Associated Press reported.
Both letters said: "To see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance." Both were signed, "I am KC and I approve this message."
Ricky Curtis, who said he was Kevin Curtis' cousin, said the family was shocked by the news of the arrest. He described his cousin as a "super entertainer" who impersonated Elvis and numerous other singers.
"We're all in shock. I don't think anybody had a clue that this kind of stuff was weighing on his mind," Ricky Curtis said in a telephone interview.
Ricky Curtis said his cousin had written about problems he had with a cleaning business and that he felt the government had not treated him well, but he said nobody in the family would have expected this. He said the writings were titled, "Missing Pieces."
Multiple online posts on various websites under the name Kevin Curtis refer to the conspiracy he claimed to uncover when working at a local hospital from 1998 to 2000.
The author wrote the conspiracy that began when he "discovered a refrigerator full of dismembered body parts & organs wrapped in plastic in the morgue of the largest non-metropolitan healthcare organization in the United States of America."
In one post, Curtis said he sent letters to Wicker and other politicians.
In a statement following the announcement of the arrest, Wicker thanked FBI and Capitol Police for their "professionalism and decisive action" in keeping his family and staff "safe from harm."
Wicker assured Mississippians that both his offices in Mississippi and Washington remained open for business and thanked the people of Mississippi for their thoughts and prayers.
The warnings came amid a flurry of reports on suspicious packages. Fox News learned of several suspicious packages or envelopes in various Capitol Hill office buildings, and Capitol Police said three packages that were flagged had been removed.
Separately, the office of Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., reported a "suspicious-looking letter" at one of the senator's Michigan offices; and a spokesman for Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., reported a "suspicious letter" was intercepted at Flake's Phoenix office. Authorities were also called to the Dallas office of Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, over what was described only as "a piece of mail" -- but field tests later came back negative.
According to a Homeland Security Department handbook, ricin is deadliest when inhaled. It is not contagious, but there is no antidote. A senior Congressional source familiar with the inquiry into the letters sent to President Obama and Sen.Wicker told Fox News that the ricin was "low grade" and "not weaponized."
The package alerts compounded security concerns in the wake of the letter incidents and the Boston bombing, which the FBI has said do not appear to be related.
Both of the initial suspicious letters were apparently intercepted on Tuesday. They never reached the Hill or the White House.
An FBI bulletin obtained by Fox News said the letter sent to Obama is still being screened, though it initially tested positive.
The bulletin said both letters included the phrase: "To see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance."
Both were signed, "I am KC and I approve this message."
The envelopes had Tennessee postmarks, but no return address.
Obama's press secretary, Jay Carney, said mail sent to the White House is screened at a remote site for the safety of the recipients and the general public. He declined to comment on the significance of the preliminary ricin result, referring questions to the FBI.
Capitol Police swiftly ramped up security, and lawmakers and staff were cautioned away from some parts of the Hill complex. After hours of jangled nerves, officials signaled it was safe to move throughout the area and people settled back to normal, if watchful, activity.
Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Terrance Gainer said that an individual who was responsible for simultaneous suspicious-package incidents in the Hart and Russell Senate office buildings on Tuesday was detained and released on Wednesday. The packages were not hazardous.
Gainer said the man was "not particularly harmful, although terribly disruptive."
Sources has said Tuesday that officials were familiar with the person believed to have sent the letters as the person was thought to have sent other letters before.
The mail-screening system was established after the Anthrax attacks of 2001 that closed the Hart Senate Office Building.