Ricin Beans

The big news out of Summit County the past day or so is the FBI bust of a man in Coventry Township who was arrested "on a federal charge of illegal possession of a biological substance" (Owner of house arrested on ricin charge). The ABJ story also contains a quote from the Coventry fire chief, saying "'a very small container in the refrigerator, less than a coffee can", and a reassuring one [sarcasm is my middle name]:

Gene Nixon, Summit County health commissioner, said the substance "seemed to have been there a long time" and endangered no one.

"Relax . . . there's never been a threat," he said.

At this point, the former resident (his house is in foreclosure) who is unemployed, on Medicaid, has no assets, and had to borrow a pair of glasses to read the complaint, has a warm place to sleep and plenty to eat in a publicly run hostel [AKA jail].

The article also states that the man being arraigned had not yet been interviewed by the FBI. It fails to mention the form or quantity of the "ricin". What we are told is that the FBI received a "tip" that ricin was present in the house, and acted to seize it. We are also told,

"Scott Wilson, an FBI spokesman, would not speculate on the motive for possessing the material but ruled out terrorism as a possible use."

I once had a high regard for the FBI -- until I had need of them. In all my life I have only notified authorities once of a crime -- it was so egregious that to ignore it would be to participate, seeing that I had been engaged by one of the participants as a ploy in covering it up and facilitating it.

Several years ago I was engaged to appraise a property for a sale. The home had not been completed, and a prior appraisal had failed to take into account the value "as-is" as well as "as-complete". The loan officer readily faxed me a copy of the sales agreement, which showed a price nearly $500,000 over the list price. It also did not have the seller's signature. I requested a copy of the agreement from the real estate agent, and what she faxed me had a sales price very near the list price. The original appraisal utilized comparable sales that were completely outside the subject's market, and fully supported the price on the loan officer's bogus sales agreement. I checked on the buyer -- the internet is a valuable tool for locating people -- and found that he had a strong Middle Eastern presence. Further, the property under consideration was one which I would consider ideal for certain types of para-military training operations.

So I called my local FBI office. And left a message. And called them again. It took nearly two weeks before an agent called me back to ask more about the particulars. I told him what I had discovered; that I had black-and-white evidence of bank fraud to the tune of a half million dollars.

His advice? The sum in question was too small for the FBI to be concerned about. I should call my local Sheriff and have his fraud squad take care of it. Do I respect the power of the FBI -- their arms and technology? You betcha. Do I think they are interested at all in upholding the Constitution? You gotta be jerking my chain.

After another week of phone persuasion the Summit County Sheriff sent over a deputy with a subpoena for my file. I specified what the subpoena should request, because I did not want anyone seizing my hard drive containing my appraisal software. The deputy left with the CD containing a complete copy of my findings, my appraisal report, and the original appraisal report. I cannot turn in the fraudulent appraisal to the state regulators because the subpoena forbids me to discuss the specifics of the case with anyone, and that is as far as I take this item.

I will tell you what I think happened to the man in Coventry Township. Ricin is the active ingredient in the pulp of the castor bean. After the bean is pressed for oil, the pulp can be processed and the ricin separated through the use of electrophoresis. I doubt that this man had the technological ability to create his own electrophoresis setup, and from the sound of it, had no money to purchase commercially available equipment. Even if he had, the ability to isolate the ricin from the electrophoresis gel is a further technological step. It is highly unlikely that the substance found in the refrigerator was actually ricin in a form that could be weaponized. If it was weapons-grade ricin, the quantity needed to be effective is so large that our own military has ruled out the practicality of weaponizing it. That is why the authorities could state with confidence that there was no danger and that terrorism could be ruled out.

My guess is that the man had some castor beans in his refrigerator, holding them there to be planted in the Spring. The castor bean plant is a very common ornamental. This fits with the "very small container" description, and the vagueness in describing what was actually found. His misfortune was probably telling somebody that the beans were there and then, perhaps in a fit of Darwinian genius, informing them that such beans were what ricin was made from. Snowballs roll downhill.

This case will probably quietly go away. Lots of tax dollars will be spent in make-work for law enforcement. Osama is probably ROTFL in his cave. The terrorists have scored again, because the US government showed up to help.