Authorities dropped charges Tuesday against Paul Kevin Curtis, the Mississippi man accused of sending ricin-laced letters to the White House, a U.S. senator and a Mississippi judge, and the FBI may have turned its attention to another man in connection with the poison attacks.
A federal magistrate judge ordered the charges dropped because “the ongoing investigation has revealed new information.” The charges were dropped without prejudice, meaning they could be lodged again in the future.
But James Everette Dutschke, of Tupelo, Miss., said the FBI was searching his home in connection with the ricin letter case Tuesday afternoon, according to the Associated Press. Dutschke told the AP that he was innocent and said he doesn’t know anything about the ingredients for ricin.
Curtis, 45, was released on bond about 11:30 a.m. Central time, according to Jeff Woodfin, chief deputy of the U.S. Marshals Service for the Northern District of Mississippi.
Curtis’s release came a day after an FBI agent told a court that a search of Curtis’s home turned up no ricin, nor did investigators find any evidence that he was making it. No other physical evidence tying Curtis to the ricin mailings was presented in two days of federal court hearings, and a third day of hearings was canceled Tuesday morning without explanation, the AP reported.
Curtis appeared at a news conference early Tuesday evening outside the federal courthouse in Oxford, Miss., with his attorney , Christi McCoy, who has strongly asserted Curtis’s innocence. McCoy said “it took a lot of planning, determination and patience” to carry out the ricin attacks.
“That is so not Kevin, to spend hours focused on making ricin,” she said.
Calls to Curtis’s father, brother and ex-wife were not returned Tuesday afternoon.
Curtis was arrested last Wednesday at his home in Corinth, Miss., and charged with sending letters containing ricin to Obama, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and a county judge in Mississippi. The first letter, to Wicker, was discovered April 15.
According to an FBI affidavit supporting the charges, Curtis allegedly mailed three identical letters on yellow paper laced with a poison believed to be ricin. The letters alluded to a long-held conspiracy theory about the trafficking in human body parts that Curtis had sought to expose.
White House spokesman Jay Carney, when asked about the Curtis case, referred questions to the FBI.
Ricin is made from castor beans, and authorities have long worried about its use by terrorists and others. But FBI agents testified this week that they found no castor beans at Curtis’s house nor any information on his computer that he was researching the poison.
The Lee County Courier reported in January that Dutschke, a martial arts instructor, had been charged with two counts of child molestation. He was later released on bond. The Washington Post could not reach Dutschke for comment at his home or martial arts studio.
Earlier Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters that there was another “alleged ricin incident” at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Southeast Washington, but could provide no additional details. Jacqueline Maguire, an FBI spokeswoman, said the bureau was investigating a suspicious letter at the Air Force base but had no further information.
But the Defense Intelligence Agency released a statement late Tuesday saying that no suspicious packages or letters had been found.
“Today, DIA’s mail screening equipment alerted officials to the possible presence of a potentially harmful substance,” Lt. Col. Thomas Veale, a DIA spokesman, said in the statement. “After thorough on-scene investigation, no suspicious packages or letters were located. The FBI took samples and will conduct further testing off-site.”
Staff writers Ed O’Keefe and Aaron Davis and researcher Julie Tate contributed to this report.
A federal magistrate judge ordered the charges dropped because “the ongoing investigation has revealed new information.” The charges were dropped without prejudice, meaning they could be lodged again in the future.
But James Everette Dutschke, of Tupelo, Miss., said the FBI was searching his home in connection with the ricin letter case Tuesday afternoon, according to the Associated Press. Dutschke told the AP that he was innocent and said he doesn’t know anything about the ingredients for ricin.
Curtis, 45, was released on bond about 11:30 a.m. Central time, according to Jeff Woodfin, chief deputy of the U.S. Marshals Service for the Northern District of Mississippi.
Curtis’s release came a day after an FBI agent told a court that a search of Curtis’s home turned up no ricin, nor did investigators find any evidence that he was making it. No other physical evidence tying Curtis to the ricin mailings was presented in two days of federal court hearings, and a third day of hearings was canceled Tuesday morning without explanation, the AP reported.
Curtis appeared at a news conference early Tuesday evening outside the federal courthouse in Oxford, Miss., with his attorney , Christi McCoy, who has strongly asserted Curtis’s innocence. McCoy said “it took a lot of planning, determination and patience” to carry out the ricin attacks.
“That is so not Kevin, to spend hours focused on making ricin,” she said.
Calls to Curtis’s father, brother and ex-wife were not returned Tuesday afternoon.
Curtis was arrested last Wednesday at his home in Corinth, Miss., and charged with sending letters containing ricin to Obama, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and a county judge in Mississippi. The first letter, to Wicker, was discovered April 15.
According to an FBI affidavit supporting the charges, Curtis allegedly mailed three identical letters on yellow paper laced with a poison believed to be ricin. The letters alluded to a long-held conspiracy theory about the trafficking in human body parts that Curtis had sought to expose.
White House spokesman Jay Carney, when asked about the Curtis case, referred questions to the FBI.
Ricin is made from castor beans, and authorities have long worried about its use by terrorists and others. But FBI agents testified this week that they found no castor beans at Curtis’s house nor any information on his computer that he was researching the poison.
The Lee County Courier reported in January that Dutschke, a martial arts instructor, had been charged with two counts of child molestation. He was later released on bond. The Washington Post could not reach Dutschke for comment at his home or martial arts studio.
Earlier Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters that there was another “alleged ricin incident” at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Southeast Washington, but could provide no additional details. Jacqueline Maguire, an FBI spokeswoman, said the bureau was investigating a suspicious letter at the Air Force base but had no further information.
But the Defense Intelligence Agency released a statement late Tuesday saying that no suspicious packages or letters had been found.
“Today, DIA’s mail screening equipment alerted officials to the possible presence of a potentially harmful substance,” Lt. Col. Thomas Veale, a DIA spokesman, said in the statement. “After thorough on-scene investigation, no suspicious packages or letters were located. The FBI took samples and will conduct further testing off-site.”
Staff writers Ed O’Keefe and Aaron Davis and researcher Julie Tate contributed to this report.