Free Republic

SAN DIEGO (AP) - The man at the center of a ricin scare at a Las Vegas motel says he never had any intention of hurting anyone with the deadly biological agent, his brother told The Associated Press. Roger Bergendorff, who finally regained consciousness last week after almost a month of hospitalization, possessed the ricin powder found in his motel room in February and believes he was contaminated by it, said Erich Bergendorff, who talked to his brother on the phone Sunday. "He just confirmed that it was not intended for anybody," Erich Bergendorff said in a telephone interview from...

LAS VEGAS -- The central figure in a hotel ricin scare last month has emerged from a coma, FBI agents said Friday... ...While he has become cognizant, federal agents said, Von Bergendorff is still in critical condition. Police are questioning him at the hospital, trying to determine why he had so much of the poison.

A 57-year-old graphic designer and pizza deliveryman, Roger Von Bergendorff, remained in a coma in a Las Vegas-area hospital March 5, nearly two weeks after he apparently inhaled ricin powder, a biological toxin that later was found among his belongings. The FBI is investigating the case to determine how the potentially deadly substance came into Von Bergendorff’s possession —and, more important, what he planned to do with it....

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced today it has entered the investigation of a 57-year-old man who is hospitalized in critical condition who may have been exposed to the deadly plant toxin ricin. The Centers for Disease Control says it is working with the Southern Nevada Health District’s Environmental Health Division, the FBI and other public health and law enforcement agencies investigating a former resident of the Extended Stay America motel. CDC investigators believe the man may be the victim of deliberate ricin poisoning, which may be injected, ingested or inhaled. Metro Police said that they do not...