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Feb. 29, 2008
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Toxic substance ricin is found in LV hotel room

By LAWRENCE MOWER
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Investigators wearing hazardous materials suits work Thursday at the Extended Stay America on Valley View Boulevard after the toxin ricin was found in a room at the hotel.
Photo by K.M. Cannon



Click image for enlargement.

A toxic biological agent was found in a suite on Valley View Boulevard near Flamingo Road on Thursday afternoon, but Las Vegas police said they were not searching for a suspect and nobody was harmed by the substance.

Ricin, a substance used for cancer research that has "no other medical use," was discovered about 3 p.m. by a man who was cleaning out a suite at the Extended Stay America at 4270 S. Valley View Blvd., Joseph Lombardo, a Las Vegas police captain and Homeland Security Bureau chief, said at a news conference about 9:30 p.m.

The man, who told police the toxic agent did not belong to him, took the powdery substance to the manager's office, and the manager called police.

Lombardo did not elaborate on who the man was.

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    • The man, along with three employees of the long-term stay hotel, were taken to a hospital as a precaution, although they had no signs of being affected by the substance, police said.

    Police were not sure about the origin of the substance or why it was in the room. The ricin and castor beans, from which ricin is derived, were found in the suite, although Lombardo did not say how much of the substance was found.

    Preliminary tests showed that the substance was ricin, a deadly toxin that can be a powder, a mist or a pellet, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Web site. It also can be dissolved in water.

    "Ricin is very serious," Lombardo said. "Something the size of the head of a pin can be deadly."

    Officials were downplaying the significance of the discovery late Thursday.

    Earlier, multiple agencies responded to the incident, including the Clark County Fire Department and the Nevada National Guard.

    "This is not a terror incident at this point," Lombardo said.

    "We don't know that there was any criminal intent on anybody's part," Las Vegas police Sgt. John Loretto said. "It could have been somebody that was reading a book who wanted to try to make something."

    Police cordoned off the area of Valley View between Flamingo Road and Harmon Avenue, and residents at the Extended Stay America were not being allowed back into the building late Thursday.

    Residents at an apartment complex north and east of the suites were allowed to come and go.

    The last time Las Vegas police dealt with ricin was in 2003, when a 60-year-old former gaming executive and chemist killed himself with the agent.

    The man, Tomoo Okada, told emergency responders that he had injected himself with the deadly poison, which prompted two hospital emergency rooms to be shut down for about three hours.

    On Thursday, 30-year-old Charlie Aitken, who was visiting Las Vegas from Nova Scotia, Canada, for the first time, said he was told by police to leave his room at the Extended Stay America about 3 p.m.

    As he walked out, he saw men suiting up in hazardous materials outfits.

    "It was like, 'Welcome to Vegas!,' " Aitken said.

    Contact reporter Lawrence Mower at lmower@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0440.



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    Helda wrote on March 04, 2008 11:22 AM: I don't understand the information about racin as a poison. I remember my grandmother used ricin oil for cosmetic purposes. Was it for her skin or her hair? I don't recall exactly. The substance that has been found in Las Vegas must be in very high concentrations.


    Vegas Vic wrote on March 01, 2008 03:48 AM: The official position seems to be that this situation is not a big deal but in 1978, the Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov was killed by a pellet filled with ricin injected into his leg. Ricin is 6000 times more toxic than cyanide and 12000 times more poisonous than rattlesnake venom by weight and 0.2 mg of purified ricin constitutes a fatal dose. Ricin is poisonous if inhaled, injected, or ingested.


    David Johann wrote on February 29, 2008 09:10 PM: Ricin is easy to make. A delivery system is NOT easy to make.

    Interesting that this FANTASTIC headline grabber occurs on the same day that the Sierra Health (now United) / Dr. Desai cross contamination endoscopy scandal is also a FANTASTIC headline.

    It's almost like a classic CIA coup d'etat intelligence plan. Yeah, I'm crazy. I know.

    Do CIA types, who know how to pull-off stuff like this, moonlight? For enough money? Nah? Who might have the money to pay people in the know to do something like that?

    Do we have a patsy yet? A lone nut? A lone nut like Oswald, or Sirhan Sirhan, or James Earl Ray?

    As a child my mother was forced to drink castor oil. Any CIA lackey w/ two semesters of college chemistry can make some ricin from castor oil and plant it in a motel room, in the middle of one of the most egregious scandals in US history.


    GOD wrote on February 29, 2008 08:53 PM: I love you too Mission031, especially when you and your compadres are cleaning my pool and mowing my lawn.

    Just kiddin'.
    Hasta la vista!

    But really, you don't make Ricin on a whim! This guy was up to no good.


    mission031 wrote on February 29, 2008 08:06 PM: I heart you GOD! And I'm not white trash, I'm Hispanic. And if you don't mind, can you come over my humble living quarters so you can show me what this 'start' button on my computer means? Thanks GOD!


    MURDER PLOT wrote on February 29, 2008 05:41 PM: Hey MissionIQ=31... What part of murder plot did you not understand???


    GOD wrote on February 29, 2008 05:38 PM: Hey MISSION031... WHAT'S IT LIKE GOING THROUGH LIFE AS STUPID WHITE TRASH???

    Read below ---
    Law enforcement officials told us that the Las Vegas Police Department is leading the probe and the investigation appears to be focusing on a MURDER PLOT of some kind.

    THAT'S RIGHT MISSION031, YOU'RE A PATHETIC IDIOT, NOW PUT THE TINFOIL BACK ON YOUR HEAD AND GO BACK INTO YOUR TRAILER. I'M SURPRISED YOU EVEN KNOW HOW TO USE THE INTERNET!?


    Mari K wrote on February 29, 2008 04:03 PM: Well, we finally know where the guy was that had this room. He's been in the hospital for the last 2 weeks and the "relative or friend" was there to check on the room and some pets.
    What was going to use the ricin for? I'm sure it wasn't to kill himself, he didn't need 4 vials for that. I think we dodged a big one when he poisened himself by accident, which happens frequently when people make this stuff.


    mission031 wrote on February 29, 2008 01:59 PM: GOD, as always, your an idiot. Thank you for the conspiracy theory of the day.


    Mari K wrote on February 29, 2008 12:30 PM: How do we know that this one vial is all that exists? One report said that the unnamed person who turned in the vial was a relative of the person who lived there, and was cleaning the room out.
    Where is this person? Do they have more? Did they have more? How can they know? How can we know?!!!


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