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Feds Turn to Truckers in Ricin Investigation

Federal officials are seeking help from trucking companies, trucker talk-radio shows and chat rooms in the hunt for "Fallen Angel," the person who sent ricin through the mail

by Staff
February 6, 2004
1 min to read


Federal officials are seeking help from trucking companies, trucker talk-radio shows and chat rooms in the hunt for "Fallen Angel," the person who sent ricin through the mail.

Law enforcement agencies say the suspect left a typed note along with a small vial of ricin at a mail facility in Greenville, S.C., in mid-October, claiming to be a "fleet owner of a tanker company" with access to ricin.
A second letter, retrieved Nov. 6 from a mail facility that serves the White House, contained an identical letter and a similar vial of ricin powder.
Authorities revealed that mailing last week, after ricin was discovered in the office of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.).
At the urging of the FBI and Department of Transportation last week, Dale Sommers, host of the popular "Truckin' Bozo" radio show broadcast out of Cincinnati, spent three nights on the air appealing to the person who planted the ricin package in the facility in Greenville.
He also broadcast information about a $100,000 reward leading to the arrest of the suspect.
The message left in Greenville warned federal authorities not to expand the time truckers must spend resting in sleeper berths from eight hours to 10 hours. The hours of service legislation went into effect on Jan. 4.

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