Logan man arrested in connection with suspicious envelopes sent to Trump

LOGAN, Utah (AP) — The Latest on suspicious envelopes sent to President Donald Trump and two top military chiefs (all times local):
4:25 p.m.

Authorities say a Utah man has been arrested in connection with suspicious envelopes sent to President Donald Trump and others.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney for Utah said Wednesday that 39-year-old William Clyde Allen III was taken into custody Wednesday in Logan.

Pentagon authorities say two envelopes were addressed to top military chiefs containing the substance from which the poison ricin is derived. Another envelope was sent to the president with unknown contents. The Secret Service says it didn’t reach the White House.

A Pentagon spokeswoman says the envelopes addressed to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and the Navy’s top officer, Adm. John Richardson, contained castor seeds. They were isolated at a mail screening facility and sent to the FBI.

No attorney was immediately listed for Allen.“No wider threat to public safety exists at this time,” said Doug Davis, an FBI special agent in Salt Lake City. 

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10:30 a.m.

A Pentagon spokeswoman says the suspicious substance found in envelopes turned over to the FBI contained the substance from which the poison ricin is derived, but not ricin itself.
Dana W. White, the chief Pentagon spokeswoman, told reporters traveling with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis in Brussels that the substance was castor seeds.

On Tuesday, Pentagon officials said two envelopes that had been suspected of containing ricin were isolated at a Pentagon mail screening facility, then sent to the FBI. They said one envelope was addressed to Mattis, the other to the chief of the U.S. Navy, Adm. John Richardson. No one was injured.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, if castor seeds are swallowed the released ricin can cause injury.