Log In | Register
RIVERTON — FBI agents wearing protective suits searched Sunday for the deadly poison ricin at a suburban home where a man possibly sickened by the deadly poison had once lived.
Authorities believed they had found all of the ricin in several vials recovered Thursday from a Las Vegas motel where Roger Von Bergendorff had been staying, but they wanted to also check the home in Riverton, outside Salt Lake City.
"We are taking all the precautions necessary to ensure public safety," FBI agent Timothy Fuhrman said at a news conference Sunday.
Fuhrman announced Sunday night that the search of the home and three storage units had concluded, but would not say whether the agents found anything related to the ricin scare in Las Vegas. Fuhrman did say after the daylong search that all of the Utah locations were safe.
Nearby homes were evacuated as FBI agents, covered from head to toe in full hazardous-material protection suits, meticulously searched the home belonging to Von Bergendorff's cousin Thomas Tholen.
Von Bergendorff had been staying in the motel room where the ricin was found and has been hospitalized since Feb. 14. Von Bergendorff has been unconscious, so police and the FBI have not been able to question him about the ricin found in his room.
Health officials are still trying to confirm whether Von Bergendorff's respiratory ailment stemmed from ricin exposure.
The FBI got a search warrant for Tholen's home, where Von Bergendorff once lived. The search began Sunday morning.
Fuhrman would not say whether the FBI suspected that Von Bergendorff had manufactured or stored ricin in the home or the rented storage units.
Las Vegas police said that firearms, an "anarchist-type textbook" and castor beans, from which ricin is made, were found in the room where the poison was discovered. The book was tabbed at a spot containing information about ricin.
Fuhrman said investigators were still trying to figure out why Von Bergendorff would have ricin but said there was no indication of any terrorist activity.
Neighbors say Von Bergendorff lived in the Tholen home for about a year before moving to Las Vegas about a year ago.
Police and health officials have tried to assure Las Vegas residents there is no public health threat. There was no indication of any spread of the deadly substance, they said.
As little as 500 micrograms of ricin, about the size of the head of a pin, can kill a human, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The only legal use for ricin is cancer research.
