The Elvis impersonator arrested for the ricin letters

The FBI blames Mississippi resident Paul Kevin Curtis for sending poison-filled letters to senators and President Obama

An official walks past a hazardous materials response team truck outside a mail sorting facility on April 16 in Hyattsville, Md.
(Image credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

On Wednesday evening, the FBI arrested a Mississippi man, Paul Kevin Curtis, on suspicion of sending letters filled with the poison ricin to Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), President Obama, and a local judge. If guilty, Curtis didn't cover his tracks very well. The arrest was based on information gathered "very early on," an official tells The New York Times. Presumably that information includes Curtis' use of his actual initials, KC, in the letter.

In fact, Curtis left enough breadcrumbs that a conservative website, Lady Liberty 1885, apparently fingered Curtis hours before the FBI announced his arrest, just through internet sleuthing. Curtis' Facebook posts include both the sign-off used in the ricin letters to Wicker and Obama — "This is KC and I approve this message" — and, according to Lady Liberty, the same quote: "To see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance."

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.