Man Pleads Innocent to Possessing Cyanide

AP | 5/21/03

[kattracks]

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A naturalized citizen from Iran who has a history of mental illness pleaded innocent to possessing enough cyanide to harm hundreds of people, authorities said.

Hessam S. Ghane, 53, was undergoing a court-ordered mental evaluation and remained in custody pending the results.

Ghane has no ties to any terrorist organization, an FBI agent testified Tuesday before a federal magistrate. Psychiatrist Howard Houghton testified that Ghane suffered suicidal depression and paranoia.

Houghton said he called police in February after Ghane threatened government groups and unnamed individuals. After making the threats, Houghton said, Ghane said: "You know I have access to chemicals and I know chemistry."

An indictment unsealed on Friday accuses Ghane of possessing 177 grams of 75 percent pure potassium cyanide. U.S. Attorney Todd Graves said he believes hundreds of people could have been harmed if the cyanide were "structured properly."

Cyanide can be fatal if swallowed, inhaled or absorbed through the skin. Ghane was charged under a law listing potassium cyanide among substances prohibited under the international Chemical Weapons Convention.

Ghane is a chemist who was employed with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers until 1993. According to court records, the corps fired him after his former girlfriend called his workplace and said he had threatened a co-worker and said he would blow up a federal office building.

Ghane also taught chemistry at Maple Woods Community College in Kansas City in 1996 and 1997.

If convicted, he faces up to life in prison and a $250,000 fine.

[gdc61]

wonder if he knew timmy, or terry nichols?

[Hodar]

Let's see, from Iran, history of mental illness, loves chemistry and gathers potassium cyanide among substances prohibited under the international Chemical Weapons Convention. Has a history of threatening to kill co-workers and blowing up buildings. Let me go out on a limb here and take a wild, unsubstanciated, totally non-PC guess. I'd guess he's Islamic, too.

[Dr Warmoose]

So an Arab can't collect KCH? What if he is into electroplating or crafting homemade pesticides?

KCH is not a controlled substance.

"Cyanide can be fatal if swallowed, inhaled or absorbed through the skin."

Cyanide is also found in food. So should the possession of grapes and apricots be considered a sign of terrorism? I love how they deceive people by shifting between "Potassium Cyanide" to "Cyanide", that is the same thing as condemning "Sodium Chloride" because "Sodium" reacts violently with water and "chlorine" can be a poisonous gas.

Many people find Dihydrogen Oxide fatal if swallowed, or inhaled (in sufficient quantities). So should everyone be on the alert if someone has 30,000+ gallons of Dihydrogen Oxide in their backyard? Maybe someone who has so much of this product avaiable should be jailed and fined too.

[aynrandfreak]

Ghane has no ties to any terrorist organization, an FBI agent testified Tuesday

Maybe they just haven't done enough investigating.

[UCANSEE2]

I didn’t know there was such a thing as pleading ‘innocent’.

You can only plead ‘guilty’, or ‘not-guilty’ to a charge.

[UCANSEE2]

So an Arab can't collect KCH? What if he is into electroplating or crafting homemade pesticides?

Was he?

Apparently not. What he was 'into' was threatening to blow up Federal Buildings.

Maybe he was just trying to impress his ex-girlfriend, but if you are going to brag about it, and keep materials that could be used for mass murder, you might get accused of a crime.

[piasa]

bump