Federal authorities arrested Paul Kevin Curtis of Corinth, Ms., in the investigation of a letter that initially tested positive for the toxic substance ricin addressed to President Obama, Politico reports. A letter addressed to the White House containing a “granular substance” that preliminarily tested positive for ricin was intercepted at an off-site facility. A similar letter was sent to Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Ms.) The Memphis Commercial Appeal reported that Curtis “believed he had uncovered a conspiracy to sell human body parts on the black market and claimed ‘various parties within the government’ were trying to ruin his reputation.”
There is no indication of a connection between the ricin letters and the Boston Marathon attack Monday, the FBI said, but nerves were frayed on Capitol Hill as officers on Wednesday morning closed off parts of two Senate office buildings to test suspicious envelopes delivered to the offices of Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Richard Shelby (R-Al.). The office of Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mi.) announced that a staffer at a regional office in Saginaw, Mi., received a “suspicious-looking letter.” The staffer was hospitalized as a precaution.