Woman Scorned Arrested for Bloomberg Ricin Letters

Kimberly Paxton

Most women just ask for a divorce when they’re unhappy in their marriages. And then there’s Shannon Richardson. The quote “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” has rarely been more appropriate.

Shannon Guess Richardson, a Texas woman, has been accused of sending ricin-tainted letters to Mayor Bloomberg and his anti-gun mayor buddies last month, and setting up her husband to take the fall. (Bloomberg, of course, immediately seized the opportunity to falsely accuse gun owners.)

Richardson, who is pregnant with her 6th child, called authorities and pointed the finger at her husband, Nathan Richardson. She told investigators that she had found sticky notes with the addresses of Bloomberg, his gun control group and President Obama. As well, she reported Tupperware containers and brown speckled beans.

When Nathan Richardson was questioned, he said that Shannon had wanted to leave him and that she was actually the one responsible for sending the letters. When Nathan’s car was searched, some castor beans (used to make ricin) were found rolling around in his trunk. Nathan Richardson’s attorney reported that Nathan had discussed a divorce a year previous to this incident.

Shannon’s story broke down upon closer investigation.

Investigators say in the complaint that Shannon failed a polygraph test, and that some of the details she provided investigators did not match up. 

Agents also note that Nathan was working a 10-hour shift on the day the letters were postmarked, and that his departure or absence from the assembly line would have been noted. 

After being confronted with all of the inconsistencies and evidence gathered by investigators Thursday morning at a hotel in Mt. Pleasant, the complaint says Shannon admitted to ordering the syringes and lye in the mail, printing the mailing labels for the letters and mailing them knowing they contained ricin – but continued to claimed that her husband was the one who ordered the ricin and typed the letters. (source)

Nathan Richardson has filed for divorce. His attorney, John Delk, said, “I don’t think that there’s a very big leap from him being innocent to him being set up. I know he didn’t do it, according to what we believe, and you know, there are very few people who could have done it, so take that for what it’s worth.”

Shannon Richardson has been remanded until her hearing on June 14 and is in the custody of US Marshals.

Richardson, also known as Shannon Guess and Shannon Rogers, is charged with mailing a threatening communication to the president of the United States, Eastern District of Texas U.S. Attorney John M. Bales and FBI Special Agent in Charge Diego Rodriguez said Friday. She was arrested in Mount Pleasant, Texas, and appeared before Magistrate Judge Caroline Craven in Texarkana, Texas, authorities said. She faces up to 10 years in federal prison if convicted. 

“According to the arrest affidavit, on May 20, 2013, Richardson is alleged to have actually mailed three letters containing the toxin ricin,” according to a news release from the U.S. attorney’s office in the Eastern District of Texas. 

The letters were sent to Obama and Mark Glaze in Washington, D.C., and to Bloomberg in New York City, authorities said. (source)

Shannon Richardson is an actress who has had small parts in The Walking Dead and The Vampire Diaries.

Kimberly Paxton, a staff writer for the Daily Sheeple, where this article first appeared, is based out of upstate New York.

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