Vegas Man Says Toxic Ricin Made Him Sick

Regains Consciousness; Tells Brother He Had No Intention To Harm Public With Deadly Poison

(CBS/AP)  A man who has been hospitalized since Valentine's Day with respiratory ailments and failing kidneys told his brother Sunday he believes he was contaminated by the deadly ricin poison found in his Las Vegas motel room.

Roger Bergendorff regained consciousness on Wednesday, but remains in critical condition at a Las Vegas medical center.

Bergendorff is now talking to the FBI and Metro police, reports CBS News Affiliate KLAS-TV in Las Vegas.

His younger brother, Erich, told The Associated Press that they spoke briefly on the telephone Sunday for the first time since the ricin incident, and said Roger claimed he had never had any intention of endangering anyone with the toxin.

"He did mention that he would have never done anything to anybody," said Erich Bergendorff. "He himself is under the impression he was contaminated by it - he did mention the ricin and seemed to say something like, 'Gee, it sure worked on me."'

Erich Bergendorff said his brother told him the ricin was easy to make, but added that his brother, who was on a ventilator until last week, still had a hard time speaking clearly so it was not clear whether Roger Bergendorff made it himself or watched someone else manufacture the powder.

"He did talk as thought he just had it there, he was almost kind of casual about it," said Erich Bergendorff, who talked to his brother on the phone from his home in Escondido, Calif., north of San Diego. "It's almost as though in his own mind it wasn't that big of a deal."

Roger Bergendorff, 57, was questioned by investigators from the FBI and the Las Vegas police on Friday in hopes that he could provide information about the Feb. 28 discovery of the ricin powder and the castor beans from which it is derived.

Officials from both agencies declined to comment about what they learned.

Ricin can be lethal in amounts the size of the head of a pin. It has no antidote and is only legal for cancer research.

In court documents, police described the amount of ricin found in the vials as "a large quantity" and characterized the poison as a "biological weapon." But officials have said they have not found evidence in the motel room or elsewhere of contamination from the exotic toxin and have downplayed the possibility that Bergendorff posed a threat.

Friends and family members described Bergendorff, an illustrator, as a loner who struggled to pay his bills while moving around California, Nevada and Utah with his beloved dog, Angel, and pet cats. He had lived in recent months at the Extended Stay America motel several blocks off the Las Vegas Strip while waiting for a freelance job contract.

Erich Bergendorff said his brother was deeply saddened by the death of their older brother in January, but insisted Roger Bergendorff had not been suicidal.

"He did say he felt very empty with his loss," said Erich Bergendorff, who added that his brother was lonely in the hospital and newly distraught after learning that his dog was euthanized after the Humane Society found her starving and without water in his motel room.

KLAS reports that Bergendorff was battling alcoholism and had declared bankruptcy a few years earlier.

Police say a cousin, Thomas Tholen, of Riverton, Utah, was collecting Bergendorff's belongings from his room on Feb. 28 when he gave a motel manager a plastic bag containing several vials of what turned out to be ricin powder. Police later found four "anarchists cookbooks" in the room marked at sections describing how to make ricin. Firearms also were found in the room.

Authorities said they found no traces of ricin in the room, in the motel manager's office, in a Las Vegas Strip hotel room where Tholen stayed, or in vehicles belonging to Tholen and Bergendorff.

Bergendorff had, by that time, been hospitalized for two weeks. Police said he summoned an ambulance Feb. 14, complaining of respiratory distress. He was taken to the Spring Valley Hospital Medical Center, where his condition was variously described later as comatose and unconscious.

Doctors have not formally diagnosed Roger Bergendorff. Experts said his symptoms appeared consistent with ricin exposure, but the poison breaks down in the body within days, making it hard to trace.

[doll841]

This man lost a brother a month earlier, loner, drifter, alcoholic, struggling to pay bills, bankruptcy, waiting on a freelance contract, anarchist cookbooks, ricin and firearms. Sounds like a terrorist in the making. Some lawyer will want to make a name for himself, and represent this idiot on an insanity plea or some type of psychotic disorder. Too much being said about his state of mind. States he has been staying for months in an extended stay motel a couple blocks off the Las Vegas strip, bet that was expensive! Wonder how he paid for it and what happened to his brother? Why is it that people cannot just kill themselves anymore, but have to take alot of innocent people with them?

[rushlimpdrug]

"Vegas Man Says Toxic Ricin Made Him Sick"

So let me get this straight ricin can not only kill a person but it can also make them sick?

Intersting.

[bozworth4]

wonder who pays this loosers hospital bill??? Don''t answer I already know. Millons without healthcare and we pay to keep some nut case alive so FBI CIA and any other three letter group can talk to him about his stupidity.

[juwboy]

ranger1948:

In the last few days, you''ve repeatedly asked FeelFreek1 if he''s served in the military.

Of course he hasn''t.

He''s a Moslem Arab who''s being paid by a terrorist organisation to pose as a patriotic American on this Comment board.

That is also true for many other contributors with analagous flag-waving, mom-and-apple-pie pseudonyms, too.

[ranger1948]

brianbwb
You and i finally agree. I think qwe should bring our troops home from Iraq. They did not attack us. If they wanted Sadaam out of power they should have took him out. Let them fight their own war. We gain nothing from this war and it is about to cause our country to go bankrupt. We violated our own constitution and do so frequently by interferring with the workings of a foreign government. I don''t like any opf the choices we have for president. We need someone who will represent the people the way we want to be represented. We need to take care of the problems in our own country.

[brianbwb-2009]

"I know this sounds horrible but anything that brings our troops home safely i am for. Now i wait for the backlash for my comment." Posted by ranger1948

Not necessarily backlash, if we are really fighting enemies that have truly attacked us, I say nuke them, but ricin is destroyed by heat, so it doesn''t work as a bullet, the military already tried that one.

The problem with Iraq is that before Bush lied, they weren''t our enemies. They never attacked us, Bush turned most of them into "enemies" by murdering, kidnapping, torturing, raping, and otherwise abusing people who are simply trying to resist Bush''s illegal occupation.

Want to bring the soldiers home safely? Pull them out and bring them home, it is as simple as that, but you see your boys Cheney and McCain over there planning long term deployment. They don''t care the slightest bit that the soldiers will die continually, as a result of Bush''s lies, or that there is no real reason that the soldiers should even be there, as long as these traitors can get paid.

It is an ominous portent that instead of campaigning, McCain is globe hopping, discussing foreign policy with heads of state, but he himself has no authority to do so, since he is not a head of state. Cheney seems to feel certain that McCain will be president.

I forsee another calendar date about to be turned into the name of a tragedy.

[petefromnz]

poor cats.

[gmond]

poor dog.

[ranger1948]

mylo1000
Your right. I am a 100% disabled viet vet because of agent orange. It caused me to have diabetes. The month i graduated from college i was diagnoised with stage I renal kidney failure. The doctors gave me 100% disability at that time and told me i couldn''t work again. Luckily because of the doctors at Ft Sam Houston they got my kidneys functioning nmormally again. I feel fairly good but know that my life has been shortened because of agent orange. Now i am happy each day i wake up and am enjoying life to the fulest.

[ranger1948]

There is still a lot more to this story not being told, maybe for national security reasons. I think America got lucky in this case. Personally i would like to see our soldiers given bullets loaded with ricin, then even a flesh wound would be fatal to the enemy. I know this sounds horrible but anything that brings our troops home safely i am for. Now i wait for the backlash for my comment.

[scottyusa]

Wowo holy cow he really said that?? I cannot believe it was that easy to find out what made this imbecile sick. Oh and by the way, did he say anything important??? This has got to be the dumbest headline I have seen in a while. Thanks for the laughs CBS!!

[generey]

Well just what the phukkk was this dumb s.o.b. gonna do with it??? ROFLMAO.

[kyanna1]

off with his head,i say,the terrorist would do it to us!give them a taste of their own medecine!an eye for an eye!what idiot would be playing with that if they didnt have alterior motives?

[pete_in_az]

To the comment about the rabbit hole, in general I like to assume the best out of people. But this person clearly wanted to end their pathetic existance with a bang. My guess, it would lend some exposure to his artwork posthumously (look at spitzers ho, she made $100k from her terrible music in 1 day.)

People don''t have lots of poison, guns and a recent catalyzing life event and plan on doing good with it.

Did he chicken out or something? Yeah maybe. Was someone else involved? Thats why this isn''t as big of a deal as it might be in our post 9/11 shrubbie police state.

[petefromnz]

Why would somebody make ricin and then poison himself with it? Because he is an idiot, obviously. Posted by kennergirl at 02:30 PM : Mar 17, 2008

Oh no, he was just a harmless castor bean collector, is all.

[petefromnz]

Is there a form of non-toxic ricin?

[kennergirl]

Yep toxic things make you sick. Why would somebody make ricin and then poison himself with it? Because he is an idiot, obviously.

[walt1944-2009]

The Great Emperor Bush II does NOT BUY the story that has surfaced regarding the person who had and was sickened by ricin!

The Great Emperor Bush II (nor any sane person for that matter) cannot understand how someone can just "happen" to have ricin in their possession and say they didn''t intend on hurting anyone with it. This is like saying you have an Abrams tank in your garage but don''t intend on driving it downtown!

Perhaps this person thought he was "immune" from the stuff, but for whatever reason, the Great Emperor plans on labeling him a "terrrrrrorist" and sending him straight to Gitmo when he recovers, if he does!

SIG HEIL, BUSH!!!!
SIG HEIL, McCAIN????

[rushlimpdrug]

We are all fortunate.
Let''s all remember:

"What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas"

[mylo1000]

Just like the goverment to cover this up. They covered up the Agent Orange in Nam. Thank GOD I didn''t cash my settlement check of $3.84 for them.