LAS VEGAS , Feb. 29, 2008
Man Critical After Ricin Find In Las Vegas
Vials Of Deadly Toxin Found In His Motel Room; No Indication Of Any Link To Terrorism
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Ricin Discovered In Las Vegas
Federal and local authorities are attempting to unravel a potentially deadly mystery in Nevada, after the poison ricin was discovered in a Las Vegas hotel room. Drew Levinson reports.
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Hazardous materials team at the Las Vegas motel where the ricin was discovered. (CBS)
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The Extended Stay America Motel where ricin was discovered. (CBS)
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There was no indication of any link to terrorist activity, Las Vegas police Deputy Chief Kathy Suey said at a press conference.
In recent years, terrorists have used ricin, reports CBS News correspondent Drew Levinson. In 2003, the Secret Service intercepted an envelope filled with the substance that was addressed to the White House. It was also found in the Senate mailroom and a postal facility in South Carolina.
The man was admitted to Spring Valley Hospital in Las Vegas in critical condition on Feb. 14, hospital spokeswoman Naomi Jones said. Suey said he had made an emergency call for help because of breathing problems. His name was not made public.
The investigation of the apparent ricin didn't begin until Thursday, police said, after someone Suey identified as "a friend or relative" went to the sick man's hotel room to retrieve his belongings and found "several" vials of a powder and brought it to the motel manager. Police were ultimately called to the Extended Stay America Motel several blocks west of the Las Vegas Strip.
Seven people, including the man who found the ricin, the manager, two other motel employees and three police officers were decontaminated at the scene and taken to hospitals for examination but none have shown any signs of being affected by ricin, Suey said. All were released overnight.
Ricin is made from processing castor beans and can be extremely lethal. As little as 500 micrograms, or about the size of the head of a pin, can kill a human, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
"During our investigation we did find that there was a subject who had been a previous occupant of that hotel room who is currently hospitalized in critical condition here locally as a possible result of exposure to ricin," Suey said.
Two preliminary tests, one by police and one by the Nevada National Guard, concluded that the substance was ricin. A third test from a local lab confirmed the results, Suey said.
"There is no information to lead us to believe that this is the result of any terrorist activity or related to any possible terrorist activity," she said. "We don't even know that it was him that was in possession of the ricin."
Police said the sick man, believed to be in his 40s or 50s, is not considered to be a criminal suspect. Suey said he was unconscious, and police had not been able to interview him.
Suey would not say how many vials were found or how much ricin they contained. Officials said the vials were in a plastic bag, and castor beans also were found in the room.
Police said they spent 12 hours containing and cleaning up the site.
"My understanding is cleanup has been done. There should not be a threat to anybody at this time," said Dr. Lawrence Sands, chief health officer of the Southern Nevada Health District.
Jones, the hospital spokeswoman, said no one else at the hospital is at risk of exposure.
"The patient who has been exposed is not contagious to anyone else, as ricin has to be injected, ingested or inhaled. We are following the universal blood-borne pathogen protocols and cooperating with investigators at this time," Jones said.
The motel manager had begun an eviction because the sick man hadn't paid his bill, and the man who found the vial had gone to the room to retrieve his belongings. Suey said he claimed to be a relative of the sick man.
Suey said there were several pets in the room when officers arrived. A dog was found dead but the animal had gone at least a week without food or water, Suey said, and she did not attribute the death to ricin.
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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See all 84 CommentsDo you suppose it''s another White House smokescreen, designed to take attention away from the upcoming Democratic landslide?
The CEO of Blackstone is one Stephen A. Scharz, a longtime supporter of Republicans and fellow Skull and Bones member with George W. Bush.
How handy is this? The president made a fool of himself yesterday in his presser. Media outlets and bloggers are still chortling over his disbelief that gas could go over $4 this summer, never mind his head-in-the-sand denial of recession.
Now we can get back to being afraid of terrorists instead of appalled by our own government.
Posted by gunshack1 at 09:23 AM : Feb 29, 2008
He''s got to keep track of his multibillion dollar oil stock profits!!
Do you suppose it''''s another White House smokescreen, designed to take attention away from the upcoming Democratic landslide?
Posted by creeper00 at 09:02 AM : Feb 29, 2008"
Do you wear your foil hat shiny-side in or shiny-side out?
Posted by easeup at 09:37 AM : Feb 29, 2008
Answer: Yes.
I''m long past the day I believe anything my government tells me.
Yes, ricin is present in a product sold in HEALTH food stores, but each bean contains an infinitesimal quantity of the poison, so hundreds, or thousands of the beans are needed to produce a lethal dose
This is not true. Republicans are more likely to be found in Airport men''s room stalls. Not closets.
Myself, I''m a hardcore independant. I vote on the issues not the party line. I think it''s shamful to try to divide people along the lines of choosing between defending yourself in your own home or having health insurance. I want both. Scr ew them all.
And hopefully this is some idiot that thought he was buying cocaine and left it behind. But , that stuff came from somewhere. Maybe some low level medical worker transporting it and lost it enroute. He did check in and should be identifiable.
Stop trying to make everything about politics.
This is absolutely ridiculous. There is absolutely NO reason why someone would have a vial of Ricin on them unless they were planning on inflicting mass casualities on a community or population. NONE. The fact the FBI would make such statement is either ignorant, or probable, an attempt to shield or cover up the evidence from the American public. YOU DON''T DO ANYTHING WITH A VIAL OF RICIN EXCEPT KILL LOTS OF PEOPLE.
Seems to me the Republicans have done pretty well for themselves exploiting 9/11 for political purposes.
What exactly don''t you get about the purpose and reasons for terrorism?
"But authorities aren''t sure why the man had a vial of powdered ricin in his room."
Do they know for certain that it belonged to the occupant of the room?
"Las Vegas police Lt. Lewis Roberts says the man has been in a coma since he was found in his room at the Extended Stay America Motel on Thursday."
How did they know to look for him?
"Lombardo said the ricin was in powder form and also some of it was in castor bean form"
Ricin doesn''t come in "castor bean form". It''s a by-product of processing castor beans. Maybe they found castor beans but they could not have found "ricin in castor bean form".
It would be nice if authorities would give us some real information. They''re treating us like mushrooms.
FOr example... the man was not "found in a coma in his hotel room"; he called for an ambulance due to repiratory distress on FEB 14, and has been in the hospital since then.
Since CBS doesn''t pay me, I''m not going to update the rest of the story for them, just that little bit to give all the readers a hint to look to other sources (try CNN or ABC) instead
What the he!! is that!?
According to the story, Ricin is made out of castor beans, so Ricin in castor bean form is...castor beans!
In my back yard, i have about a ton of loose leaf paper...in tree form!
Hey! I''ve also got a brand new Mercedes...in scrap metal form!
I also have a dangerous amount of smoke...in firewood form!
I mean, yeah, i get it. The guy has TWO DIFFERENT DANGEROUS THINGS, and is therefore TWICE AS DANGEROUS!
We should move the Terror Alert to Fire Engine Red!
It takes a Republican to be truly afraid of castor beans!
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Posted by neoconslayer at 03:05 PM : Feb 29, 2008
What a moron.
Need I say more?
Scary!
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Posted by jetlizhan at 03:26 PM : Feb 29, 2008
If he pulls through he will no doubt lie about what happened because he almost certaily committed several crimes to get the ricin. Still, there may be evidence we don''t know about that will get us part of the truth. We may learn how easy or how hard it is to get the stuff. We can already see that delivering it as a weapon is tough, becuase whatever he intended to do with it failed (unless it was just a case of suicide).
The fact that the 9/11 attacks could be motivated by them simply not liking our sinful ways is rediculous, if not coercive.
What most folks don''t get is that a group of Bush''s guys were over there talking to the taliban in Afghanistan (Cheney?) to get an oil pipeline through to the Caspian Sea. (lots of oil there, hard to get it out) The Taliban said, "no deal" at least on the terms offered. We all know what happens when you disagree with the Bush mob. Much less tell them no.
We can only hope to find out someday what kind of threats were made. At any rate, shortly after that - 9/11. Anything Bush has said to explain the war in Afghanistan is diversionary.
Absolutely. And repubs will try anything else.
I find that just ridiculous hate speech. When the facts come out, and they will, people will know who to blame and when. People like you have no life. You just wait around to start trouble.
LOL...LOL again. Come on tinkerbell, tell us how Bush blew up the twin towers.
Read it again fool. He didn''t. He picked a fight with Al Quaeda, who did it.
Dems of course blame bush for all the dozens & dozens of failed acts as his policy or just failure to act.
| Continuing to vacation at his ranch after Katrina struck & it was known the levees broke, then going to a fundraiser a few days later, while 10s of thousands of people needed help but were cut off.
| Lying to get us into Iraq, then failing to manage the occupation as was recommended by all the military experts he "retired".
| Using the justice department to advance a republican party agenda of flagrant misuse of taxpayer money to investigate without cause as many Democratic politicians as they could for partisan politics.
| Frauding the public on his "Faith Based plan" of using tax money to bribe evangelical ministers with cash to push republican voting of their congregations for local elections.
| Failing to adhere to or implement any of the 9-11 commissions recommendations to protect us more since he''s been in office.
| Passing secretive laws to remove american citizens freedom at the Whim of himself or anyone that is in his administration and wire tap any communications regardless of cause or intent or evidence of the necessity.
| Endangering our soldiers'' lives if captured by endorsing torture of captives.
I know theres about 40 or 50 more, but you can only type so much here.
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you forgot to blame bush for that skid mark on your underwear..
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