“We do not
have to visit the madhouse to find disordered minds; our planet is the mental
institution of the universe.”
~Johann von Goethe
Recently, there have been arrests made regarding
poison laced letters that were sent to the President, a Judge, and a Senator. These
letters contained a substance called ricin. Ricin is poisonous if inhaled, injected, or ingested.
The castor bean plant from
which ricin is derived is a common plant and can be
grown at home without any special care. The major reason ricin is a public
health threat is that it is so easy to obtain.
Ricin, Wikipedia
Ricin, made from castor beans, is, in its powdered
form, 6,000 times more poisonous than cyanide and a dose the size of two grains
of salt can kill. Associated Press, April 30, 2013
A massive manhunt ensued after the letters were
received, and a man named Paul Kevin Curtis was immediately arrested. As a bit of background regarding Curtis, it is
alleged that he is quite eccentric and maybe a bit mentally unstable. He has a
propensity to come up with very big conspiracy theories. The most significant
conspiracy that he has come up with to date is that a mortuary where he worked as
a janitor was involved in a black market scheme of selling body parts. It turns out that his story, to date, has not been
proven to be true. Time will tell.
Curtis is an Elvis impersonator who lives in Elvis’
birthplace of Tupelo , Mississippi
The second
accused person in this strange story had once planned to co-write a book with Curtis
about the body parts conspiracy before the two had a fall out years ago. Their feud continued and escalated throughout
the years on Facebook, Youtube, and other social media outlets.
Curtis was immediately deemed to be a suspect
because the ricin letters contained the initials “KC.” The letters also contained a similar phrase
that Curtis frequently uses in blogposts, letters, and various web commentaries.
This phrase is “I am KC and I approve this message.” Investigators would soon find
that the initials on the ricin letters were there for a more sinister purpose
than Curtis identifying himself as the sender.
After
being interrogated by numerous law enforcement agencies, and having his home
searched, Curtis was eventually freed. However, Curtis was kept in custody for a week. He was interrogated
while he was chained to a chair and his house was turned upside down (he is now
seeking compensation for the extensive damage to his home). Even though investigators were holding Curtis, according to an FBI
affidavit, they began collecting physical evidence against a second suspect.
Instead of setting Curtis free, court records show,
federal officials sought to keep him in custody. First, three days after the
arrest, prosecutors asked for a psychiatric evaluation — a request usually made
by defense lawyers. That could have extended his stay in federal prison by
several months and allowed investigators to continue to question him. Then, after a judge denied the request, federal prosecutors
filed a motion seeking to postpone a court hearing at which they would be
required to reveal the evidence they had against Curtis. That was also turned
down. “They wanted to keep Mr. Curtis in custody while they built a case,” said
Hal Neilson, a former FBI agent who is one of Curtis’ attorneys. “They knew
early on he wasn’t the right guy, but they fought to hold onto him anyway.” Kimberly Kindy, Washington
Curtis
stated that it was immediately assumed that he that he was the wrongdoer and
commented that he was heavily pressured into confessing that he sent the
letters. One could only imagine how
disturbing it would be to be accused and kept in custody based on barely circumstantial
and not any physical evidence. It appears that his immediate arrest and
treatment by law enforcement was a very quick jump to a wrong conclusion.
“The letters and his
mental state would not likely add up to probable cause, which you need to make
an arrest,” said Andrew Scott, a retired Boca Raton, Fla., police chief, expert
court witness on police procedure, and a graduate of the FBI National Academy.
“The evidence came from publicly available social media sites. And the last
time I checked, psychological profiling is not an element of probable cause.
Without further investigating, it can lead to the kind of fiasco we are seeing
here.”
The story becomes even
more bizarre.
Why is it that some people cannot just let things
go? James Everett Dutschke is such a
man. As it stands now, he faces
life in prison on federal charges of developing and delivering a toxin for use
as a weapon. What led him down the road
to ruin?
During the period of
time that Curtis was interrogated, and ultimately freed, Curtis provided a list to law
enforcement officials of people who may have had a reason to hurt Curtis. Dutschke’s name came up.
It
is not fully understood why Dutschke allegedly sent the ricin letters, but it
is theorized that he made a bad, and not very well thought out, choice to try
and frame Curtis as a result of their feud.
Dutschke, like Curtis, is a peculiar sort. He is reported to be an ex-martial arts
teacher, insurance salesman, blues singer, and claimed Mensa member. He was recently
arrested for two child molestation charges and is appealing a conviction on a
charge of indecent exposure. He also unsuccessfully
ran in a Mississippi
By his own
description on his MySpace page, Dutschke
once wanted to specialize in psychiatric nursing, but wound up in radio and
then the insurance business. He’s in a rock band called Dusty and the RoboDrum that, according to its Facebook page,
includes “tons of lasers.” Winston
Ross, April 25 2013
It is theorized that all of Dutschke’s acts were
motivated by feuds. He had an ongoing dispute with Curtis due to the animosity
between them. Dutschke also apparently had a grudge against the Judge whom he allegedly
attempted to poison because she scolded him at a political event for his
scathing personal attacks of her son (who was running for the same position).
Regarding the President and the Senator, it is
believed that the obvious purpose of these letters was to get Curtis locked up
for a—very--long time.
This tale of feuds and lawbreaking was best
summarized by Curtis’ attorney, “We are relieved and
saddened. This crime is nothing short of diabolical. I have seen a lot of
meanness in the past two decades, but this stops me in my tracks.”
Maybe turning the other cheek is good
advice after all.
~Leonardo G. Renaud
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