Pregnant actress nabbed in ricin case

TEXARKANA, Texas — A pregnant Texas actress who first told the FBI that her husband sent ricin-tainted letters to President Barack Obama and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, then allegedly said she sent them because her husband “made her” do it, was charged Friday with threatening the president.

Shannon Guess Richardson, 35, appeared in a Texarkana courtroom after being charged with mailing a threatening communication to the president. The federal charge carries up to 10 years in prison, U. S. attorney’s off ice spokeswoman Davilyn Walston said.

R icha rdson, a mother of five who has played bit roles on television and in movies including “The Blind Side,” was arrested Friday for allegedly mailing the ricin-laced letters last month to the White House, Bloomberg and the mayor’s Washington gun-control group. The letters Shannon Richardson — which authorities determined were mailed from Richardson’s hometown of New Boston and postmarked in Shreveport, La. — threatened violence against gun-control advocates, authorities said.

According to an FBI affidavit, Richardson contacted authorities on May 30 to implicate her estranged husband, Nathaniel Richardson. She later failed a polygraph test, and investigators looking into her story found numerous inconsistencies, the document said.

During an interview with authorities Thursday, Shannon Richardson admitted mailing the letters knowing they contained ricin, but she said her husband had typed them and made her print and send them, the affidavit said.

No charges have been filed against Nathaniel Richardson. His attorney, John Delk, told The Associated Press Friday that his client was pleased with his wife’s arrest and was working with authorities to prove his innocence.

Delk said he wasn’t anticipating that Nathanial Richardson would be arrested. “But until I’m sure they’re not looking at him being involved, I can’t say much more,” he said.

Delk previously told the AP that the couple is going through a divorce and that the 33-yearold Army veteran may have been “set up” by his wife.

Shannon Richardson works as an actress under the name Shannon Guess. Her resume on the Internet movie database IMDb said she has had small television roles in “The Vampire Diaries” and “The Walking Dead.” She had a minor role in the movie “The Blind Side,” based on Michael Oher’s journey from inner city Memphis to the National Football League.