Man gets 3.5 years for ricin possession

LAS VEGAS (AP) — An unemployed graphic designer was sentenced Monday to three and one-half years in federal prison for possessing enough of the deadly toxin ricin to kill hundreds of people.

Roger Bergendorff said in a lengthy speech during his sentencing Monday in Las Vegas that he never intended to hurt anyone.

"I know it sounds crazy. I made it just to have — and that's why I kept it," he said.

Bergendorff detailed a life of personal torment and grief before he was sentenced, but he said he never was motivated to use the deadly poison.

"I fear God's judgment," he said.

U.S. District Court Judge Robert C. Jones in Las Vegas told Bergendorff that he needed to understand the severity of crime. The judge also imposed a $7,500 fine, which he said was designed to force Bergendorff into a work-release program.

The sentencing brought an end to a dramatic saga that raised fears that Bergendorff poisoned himself while plotting a biological attack on tourists or unsuspecting gamblers on the Las Vegas Strip, home to tens of thousands of hotel rooms.

Authorities have since characterized the 57-year-old Bergendorff as a troubled man, but no terrorist. He pleaded guilty to possession of a biological toxin and possession of unregistered handgun silencers in a plea deal that avoided trial.

Police said they also found three handguns and a rifle in the extended-stay motel room where Bergendorff lived with his dog and two cats a few blocks off the Las Vegas Strip, along with castor beans and books with instructions about how to manufacture ricin.

A charge of possession of firearms without serial numbers was dropped. Bergendorff could have faced up to 30 years in prison and $750,000 in fines if convicted of all charges against him.

Federal prosecutor Gregory Damm told a federal judge in April that he believed Bergendorff had enough ricin powder to kill more than 500 people.

In interviews with The Associated Press, Bergendorff has admitted distilling the lethal powder from the beans of a backyard castor plant while he lived in San Diego in 1998. He said he carried it with him for a decade while living in Reno, in Utah and in Las Vegas.

He has been steadfast that he would never have released it, accidentally or on purpose.

"Absolutely not. Zero chance. I had it triple-sealed," he said during one of a series of telephone calls to the AP from jail days after his guilty plea.