A 53-year-old Canadian woman, Pascale Ferrier, was arrested Sunday night for allegedly sending a letter laced with ricin to the White House last week, targeting President Trump. Her LinkedIn profile lists her as Software Configuration Manager at Pratt & Whitney, Canada. Pratt & Whitney is a subsidiary of Raytheon, a well known US military contractor.
Her twitter bio describes her as a "Techo-Creative Nomad". She was arrested as she attempted to cross from Canada into the US carrying a gun. Ferrier is suspected of having sent a letter containing ricin postmarked on September 17 with the letters H4T. Those letters indicate that the letter was processed in a Montreal sorting facility. She may also be suspected of sending of letters sent to several Texas law enforcement agencies over the weekend. She was taken into custody on Sunday by US Custom and Border Patrol. She is expected to face federal charges.
Ferrier's arrest record reveals that she was arrested by the Mission Police Department in Texas in March of 2019 for illegally carrying a weapon and tampering with a government record, according to CBC News. She was released in May of that year. She was only detained for 20 days because it was her first offense. She had overstayed her 6-month visa and was deported back to Canada per a report by the New York Times.
Hidalgo County Sheriff Eddie Guerra seemed to indicate a connection when he announced on Twitter that his agency was also targeted. He seems to confirm this connection in his tweet Monday.
There is little doubt that President Trump was the target of Ferrier's ricin-laced letter. She addressed it to the President and on September 9th sent out two tweets that voiced animosity toward him. The first tweet was a response to a tweet that has since been deleted. Ferrier ended her tweet with #killtrump. Her second tweet, sent minutes later, while not violent, clearly indicated disdain for him. Ferrier's tweets have been removed from the social media platform. UncoverDC captured screen shots before their removal.
Today, the Star Tribune reports that the FBI provided an affidavit regarding the contents of her letter to the President. Those contents reveal that she "directed him to give up and remove your application for election." She then adds,"So I made a 'special gift' for you to make a decision. This gift is in this letter," she wrote, according to the affidavit. "If it doesn't work, I'll find better recipe for another poison, or I might use my gun when I'll be able to come."
Douglas Quan, correspondent for the Vancouver Bureau of The Star, reports that RCMP is conducting an ongoing investigation at a condo in St-Hubert on Montreal's south shore. The investigation started Monday. Investigator Cpl. Charles Poirier said that "the residence is connected" to Ferrier. He added,“We don’t know if she lived here but there is a clear link between her and this residence.” Quebec RCMP posted a tweet indicating the scope of their investigation.They also tweeted that those investigations are ongoing.
This one-minute video on Ricin describes just how deadly this poison is. Ricin is processed from the waste of the beans. It can be delivered in various forms- powder, mist, or pellets. An amount of 500 mcg, roughly the size of the head of a pin, is enough to kill someone in 36-72 hours. and there is no known antidote.
This is an ongoing investigation involving multiple jurisdictions. Ferrier is due to appear in court in Buffalo today.
