Pascale Cecile Veronique Ferrier, Ricin Mailing, Texas 2020
A 55-year-old Canadian-French citizen has pleaded guilty to sending a threatening letter containing homemade ricin to then-President Donald J. Trump at the White House in September 2020.
Pascale Cecile Veronique Ferrier, a dual citizen of Canada and France, admitted in plea agreements that she made ricin at her residence in Quebec, Canada, in September 2020. Ricin is a deadly poison made from castor beans. Ferrier placed the ricin in envelopes containing letters she wrote to then-President Trump at the White House and to eight Texas State law enforcement officials.
According to court documents, Ferrier was detained in the State of Texas for around 10 weeks in the spring of 2019. She believed that the law enforcement officials were connected to her period of detention. In early September 2020, Ferrier used the Twitter social media service to propose that someone should “please shoot [T]rump in the face.” The letters in the envelopes contained threatening language, and the letter addressed to then-President Trump instructed him to “[g]ive up and remove [his] application for this election.” Ferrier mailed each of the threatening ricin letters from Canada to the United States.
Ferrier then drove a car from Canada to the Peace Bridge Border Crossing in Buffalo, New York, on Sept. 20, 2020, where border patrol officials found her in possession of a loaded firearm, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and other weapons.
Ferrier pleaded guilty to prohibitions with respect to biological weapons before the Honorable Dabney L. Friedrich of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Ferrier also pleaded guilty to eight additional violations of prohibitions with respect to biological weapons in a case brought against her in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, and consented to the transfer of that case to the District of Columbia for plea and sentencing.
The Honorable Dabney L. Friedrich scheduled the sentencing hearing for April 26. Ferrier will be sentenced to 262 months of imprisonment if the court accepts the plea agreements. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The FBI Washington and San Antonio Field Offices investigated the case with valuable assistance provided by the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael J. Friedman for the District of Columbia; Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rob Jones, David Coronado, and David Lindenmuth for the Southern District of Texas; and Trial Attorney David Smith of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section are prosecuting the case.
The defendant, a dual citizen of Canada and France, faces a significant prison sentence for her crimes. With a plea agreement in place, Ferrier will be sentenced to 262 months of imprisonment if the court accepts the agreement. The outcome of the case serves as a reminder of the serious consequences of mailing threatening letters and possessing deadly poisons.
Defendant/respondent: Pascale Cecile Veronique Ferrier
Criminal charges: Prohibitions with respect to biological weapons
City and state: Washington D.C.
Exact date: September 2020
Sentence or outcome: 262 months of imprisonment
Other: The case is ongoing, with a sentencing hearing scheduled for April 26.
Key Facts
- State: Texas
- Category: Violent Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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