SALT LAKE CITY—A Navy veteran in Utah was charged on Oct. 5, with threatening to use a biological toxin as a weapon by sending letters to President Donald Trump and other leaders containing ground castor beans, the substance from which the poison ricin is derived.
William Clyde Allen III, 39, told investigators he wanted the letters to “send a message,” though he did not elaborate, FBI investigators said in documents filed in U.S. District Court of Utah. Authorities zeroed in on Allen after finding his return address on at least two of the envelopes, according to the complaint.
