Shannon Rogers Guess Richardson, an actress who had small parts on “The Walking Dead” and “Vampire Diaries,” was arrested on Friday in connection with mailing ricin-tainted letters to President Barack Obama and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
E! Online reported that Guess Richardson is an actress on the two shows, and her husband is a U.S. Army veteran. She denied sending the letters.
“I really can’t say much at all but the accusation couldn’t be further from the truth. I would not put my unborn child or other children in danger just to ‘frame’ someone,” she wrote. “He simply needed someone to blame for what he has done and I was the obvious person for him to blame. Most of what is being reported in this case is absolutely inaccurate.”
Two U.S. law enforcement officials say Richardson, who is from New Boston, Texas, was arrested on Friday. Charges are pending against her.
The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly during the ongoing investigation.
FBI agents wearing hazardous material suits were seen going in and out of her house Wednesday in New Boston, about 150 miles northeast of Dallas near the Oklahoma and Arkansas borders.
Her husband, Nathaniel Richardson, told the New York Post that she set him up. But Shannon Guess Richardson told the paper that she found a container of ricin and she thought he was trying to poison her.
“She told me she was trying to be as careful as possible. She didn’t eat unless it was straight from the store to her hand, basically,” her son, Branden, told the paper.
The letters sent to Bloomberg and Obama were found during mail-screening processes.
“You will have to kill me and my family before you get my guns,” reads the message sent to Bloomberg, reported to NBC New York. “Anyone who wants to come to my house will get shot in the face. The right to bear arms is my constitutional God given right and I will exercise that right till the day I die.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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