Robert M. Alberg, 37, is still cooling his heels in the SeaTac federal detention center, caught up in the War on Terrorism after the FBI discovered he was allegedly using caster beans to make deadly ricin in his Kirkland mother-in-law apartment.
Alberg, the autistic son of a wealthy high-tech investor, was jailed April 9, joining a growing list of people worldwide who have allegedly cooked up the poison but never used it.
In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control, the last known case of the toxin being successfully used as a deadly weapon took place in 1978.
That's when a KGB agent in London allegedly used an umbrella tip to inject ricin into the thigh of Georgi Markov, a prominent Bulgarian dissident. Markov died three days later from ricin poisoning, which has no known antidote and is the second most-deadly toxin known to man.
More recently, according to a CDC Webcast last December, four members of the rightwing, anti-government Minnesota Patriots Council were busted for possession of enough ricin to kill 100 people. Their plan was allegedly to kill a Deputy U.S. Marshal and a local sheriff by mixing the toxin with a solvent that would allow absorption through the skin.
In 1995, according to the CDC, an extremist from Arkansas was arrested at the Canadian border with enough ricin to kill 10,000 people, and a Kansas City oncologist unsuccessfully tried to murder her husband by putting ricin in his food the same year.
Six terrorists arrested in 2002 in England were also discovered to have a ricin lab in their flat, and in 2003, a less-than-lethal form of ricin was found in the Paris Metro. French authorities theorized the poison was linked to Chechen separatists who were planning to attack the Russian embassy.
Kenneth Olsen, a Spokane man, was sentenced to 13 years in prison last October for possession of ricin, and a vial of the toxin was also discovered in South Carolina postal center the same month.
The vial of ricin was found in a threatening letter to the federal Department of Transportation, and the letter objecting to restrictive new rules for long-haul truckers was signed by somebody calling himself "Fallen Angel."
The toxin was also found in February this year on the mail-opening machines in Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's office. And finally, the recipe and equipment for making ricin were found in Osama bin Laden's deserted home at an al-Qaeda base in Afghanistan, which backs up the CDC's contention that the toxin "has long been considered a possible weapon of biological warfare or biological terrorism."
Poison is poison, according to Special Agent Ray Lauer in the FBI's Seattle office. "We've always been aware it's one of the methods," he said of ricin's use as a weapon.
But a terrorist weapon of mass destruction?
According to the CDC, ricin could be used as a terrorist weapon by contaminating food or beverages, but it is not easily absorbed by ingesting it, according to animal studies. Injecting ricin into a victim is more efficient, according to the CDC, but that method is obviously impractical for targeting a large number of people.
The most efficient way of spreading the poison is through inhalation, but the toxin would have to be milled to a very fine powder, a process that is technically very difficult, according to the CDC.
Alberg didn't even get close to that stage, according to federal court documents, although a biological expert told the FBI that caster beans found in Alberg's apartment had been processed "into a substance that is considered as a form of ricin that is capable of causing death or disease to a human."
The FBI was alerted to Alberg's alleged actions by an employee at a New York state seed company, where Alberg had allegedly ordered approximately five pounds of caster seeds last December. The normal amount of caster seeds ordered through the company is much, much smaller, and the seeds are legally used by gardeners to grow the decorative plant.
On March 30, the FBI finally got around to talking to Alberg's aunt, who owns the house and mother-in-law apartment where Alberg lives above the adjoining garage in the 500 block of Eighth Avenue in Kirkland. The aunt told the FBI her nephew had been ordering chemicals through the mail for months.
Special Agent Lauer declined to say why there was such a long delay between the time the seed company notified the FBI and the time agents finally started to investigate Alberg. "I can't comment because it's an ongoing investigation," he said.
In any event, the FBI also talked to Alberg's father, Tom Alberg, on March 30. According to federal court documents, he told the investigating agent that his son is suffering from a mental condition thought to be a form of autism.
The senior Alberg also said his son had sent e-mails to family members between last July and October, claiming he had made several poisons. Alberg's father also provided the FBI with a printout of those e-mails on April 2, and they paint a disturbing picture of a man obsessed with poison and death.
According to the court documents, Alberg claimed in the e-mails that he was growing "bacillus anthrasis and anthrax." He also wrote: "I am now working on bioweapons since I am still single," that he hoped he died on Federal Death Row, and that "It's now exciting working with poisons. Perhaps I'll find a way to end all life on earth through some interesting items ...."
Alberg, according to court documents, claimed in the e-mails that he had found a way to poison the water supply, and he also sent his 14-year-old sister the recipe for making ricin from caster beans.
The recipe is available on the Internet with some digging, but the court documents only list the first of 14 steps in the process. The first step listed in the documents was to get some caster beans from a garden-supply store.
"The remaining 13 steps have not been included in my affidavit based on security concerns," wrote the FBl agent who prepared the federal complaint.
Alberg's Kirkland neighbors, who didn't know the man or even see him very often, were shocked by his arrest. So was his family, who released a statement in April, saying they appreciated "authorities' sensitivity to Robert's obvious medical and psychological conditions."
The statement also said Alberg's condition had worsened in the past year, "increasing his isolation."
A probable-cause hearing in the case was waived on April 22, said Emily Langlie from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Seattle. The next step will be an arraignment on the federal charges, pending indictment, she said.
But it's unclear when that might happen. "Nothing is scheduled yet," Langlie said in late April.
If convicted, Alberg faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, according to Lawrence Lincoln in the U.S. Attorney's office.
Staff reporter Russ Zabel can be reached at rzabel@nwlink.com or (206) 461-1309.
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