Possible Ricin Found In Las Vegas Motel

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Story:

Ricin Possibly Found at Las Vegas Motel

By KEN RITTER – 50 minutes ago

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A substance found at a motel may be the deadly toxin ricin, but authorities said Friday they don't believe it was intended for a terrorist attack. Lab tests on the substance were pending and seven people were taken to hospitals as a precaution.

"This event does not appear to be terrorism related," FBI spokesman Richard Kolko in Washington said Friday morning. Kolko said the FBI was assisting local police in the investigation.

Police were called to the Extended Stay America Motel on Thursday and retrieved a package from the motel manager that was determined to be a chemical or controlled substance, Officer Ramon Denby said.

Two preliminary tests indicate it contained ricin, Denby said. Results from further tests by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a second local lab are expected later Friday, he said.

The man who brought the substance to the manager told police he found it in a suite and it did not belong to him, police Capt. Joseph Lombardo said at a news conference Thursday night. Lombardo did not identify the man.

"Ricin has no medical uses other than cancer research," Lombardo said. "An individual citizen other than being involved in cancer research or cancer prevention would not have any legal means or proper means of having that."

Police cordoned off the area and isolated the room where the substance was found.

Three motel employees and another person were quarantined and decontaminated at the site, then taken to hospitals for further testing, Denby said. All appeared to be in good condition, he said. Three police officers who had been exposed were also taken to hospitals.

Someone exposed to ricin shows signs of contamination in six to eight hours, Denby said.

Homeland Security officials joined local police in the investigation. Officials from the FBI, Las Vegas Health District, a hazardous materials team and the National Guard were also at the scene.

A woman who answered the phone at the Extended Stay America Motel declined to comment. The motel is several blocks west of the Las Vegas Strip.

Ricin is made from the waste left over 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 CDC.

(This version CORRECTS Adds detail, recasts; corrects spelling of Ramon. AP Video.)

[Broomstick]

It should be noted that this was not a matter of finding trace amounts of ricin - this stuff was, according to reports, pretty pure.

There are some legit substances that do contain tiny trace amounts of ricin, such as castor beans (duh), castor oil and several varieties of radio control model fuel, but that's not what we're talking about here.

Article from CNN

Police in Las Vegas, Nevada, are investigating the discovery of what they said is the deadly poison ricin in a hotel room.
art.ricinhotel.klas.jpg

No one has shown symptoms of ricin poisoning after the toxin was found Thursday at a Las Vegas, Nevada, hotel.

Preliminary tests show the substance is ricin, authorities said, but other tests to confirm it are under way.

Meanwhile, the reason the substance was in the room remains a mystery.

"We don't know who [the ricin] belongs to or why it would be here at this time," said Capt. Joe Lombardo of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.

The FBI, which is assisting in the case, said it saw no link to terrorism, according to spokesman Richard Kolko.

Authorities were called to an Extended Stay America hotel around 3 p.m. PT Thursday after a man brought a bag with a small container to the manager's office. The man said he found it while retrieving items from a hotel room.

The substance is "100 percent ricin," Lombardo said.

Three hotel employees and a fourth person who came to the room to retrieve some items went to the hospital as a precaution, Officer Ramon Dendy said. Three police officers who entered the room also are under watch at the hospital. All have been decontaminated, and none of the seven have shown symptoms of ricin poisoning, which can include anything from difficulty breathing, fever, cough, nausea and sweating to severe vomiting and dehydration.

"We did have enough ricin to be of concern," Lombardo said. "At this point, it has been contained and processed where it's not a threat to anybody."

Lombardo said areas of the hotel exposed to the toxin have been decontaminated as well.

Police said they don't know how many people have stayed in the room recently.

The discovery of ricin alarms law-enforcement agencies because authorities in several countries have investigated links between suspect extremists and ricin.

Ricin is a poison that can be made from waste left over after processing castor beans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The toxin can come in the form of a mist or pellet and can be dissolved in water or weak acid, according to the CDC. The agency also said the toxin works by getting inside the cells of a person's body and preventing the cells from making the proteins they need.

As little as 500 micrograms -- an amount the size of the head of a pin -- can kill an adult. Video Watch how a minute amount of ricin can kill »

Lombardo said authorities found castor beans in the room and also powder in a small vial. He said ricin is not illegal to own, but it's illegal if processed to be used for poisoning someone.

Ricin has limited medical uses -- it can be used to kill cancer cells and bone marrow transplants.

CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, said that while a small amount can kill somebody if injected, tons of it would be needed to use as a mass terrorism tool.

Gupta said there are three ways of exposure to ricin: inhalation, ingestion or injections. If inhaled, people may develop fever, a cough, nausea, fluid in the lungs and organ failure.

There is no specific test for exposure and no antidote once exposed, he said.
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There have been other reported cases involving ricin in the United States. In January 2005, the FBI arrested an Ocala, Florida, man with no known ties to terrorists or extremists after agents found ricin in the home he lives in with his mother.

Ricin was found in February 2004 in the mailroom of the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. The mailroom handles correspondence addressed to U.S. lawmakers

[Steven Snyder]

Oh goody.

So we find what is basically a ricin lab.

We don't know how much was made.
We don't know who made it.
We don't know where it is now.

CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, said that while a small amount can kill somebody if injected, tons of it would be needed to use as a mass terrorism tool.

Mr. Gupta, with all due respect, most humans need very little motivation to go from Joe Ordinary to hysteria. Some of this found in the wrong place would be very bad.

[Steven Snyder]

New Development

From our good friends at MSNBC

Ricin found in Vegas motel
1 in coma, 6 others are doing well; police say no terror link
The Associated Press
updated 3:06 p.m. CT, Fri., Feb. 29, 2008
LAS VEGAS - Vials found in the motel room of a man hospitalized in critical condition tested positive for the deadly toxin ricin, authorities said Friday.

There was no indication of any link to terrorist activity, Las Vegas police Deputy Chief Kathy Suey said at a press conference.

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.

Positive test results
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.

Reducing the risk
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.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23405226/

Emphasis Mine

So what I gather here...

1. We have an individual that setup a ricin lab in a motel room.
2. The individual was exposed to the toxin
3. An assumed relative brought evidence of this to the motel manager

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Let's assume all involved are innocent...

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.

Folks, if you see something suspicious, be it a vial of white powder or a package on the ground, and especially if you have concerns about it, don't touch it. Certainly don't carry it around and bring it somewhere. Leave it alone and call the police.