Thursday, April 18, 2013

Alleged Ricin Mailer Arrested by FBI


WASHINGTON, April 17 (Reuters) - The FBI arrested a Mississippi man on Wednesday in connection with letters sent to President Barack Obama and two other officials that are believed to have contained the deadly poison ricin, the U.S. Justice Department said.

Paul Kevin Curtis was arrested at his home in Corinth, Mississippi, and is "believed to be responsible for the mailings of the three letters sent through the U.S. Postal Inspection Service which contained a granular substance that preliminarily tested positive for ricin," the Justice Department said in a statement.

The letters were addressed to a U.S. senator, the White House and a Mississippi justice official, the statement said.

The ricin poison scare hit Washington after bombings at the Boston Marathon killed three people and injured 176 on Monday, but the FBI said there was no indication the incidents were connected.

The FBI said the envelope sent to Obama was received at a mail-screening facility outside the White House and was immediately quarantined. Preliminary tests showed it contained the deadly poison ricin, the FBI said

Washington was put on edge on Tuesday evening when news emerged that authorities had intercepted a letter sent to Republican Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi that had initially tested positive for ricin.

Following the arrest, Wicker issued a statement thanking the FBI and Capitol Police "for their professionalism and decisive action in keeping our family and staff safe from harm."

Earlier on Wednesday, a flurry of reports of suspicious letters and packages rattled the U.S. capital and caused the temporary evacuation of parts of two Senate buildings. Most of the reports quickly proved to be false alarms, and business was only temporarily disrupted on Capitol Hill.

The letters to Obama and Wicker had identical language, included the phrase, "To see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance." They were signed, "I am KC and I approve this message," according to an FBI operations bulletin reviewed by Reuters.

The envelopes both bore postmarks from Memphis, Tennessee, and were dated April 8. Memphis Mayor A.C. Wharton noted in a statement, however, that it did not mean the letters originated in that city.

An aide to Wharton said many areas near Memphis were included in its postmark - including some in neighboring northern Mississippi, Wicker's state.

For Washingtonians, the situation was an unsettling reminder of events of nearly 12 years ago when letters containing anthrax spores were mailed to the Washington offices of two senators and to media outlets in New York and Florida, not long after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington.

Read more and see video at: Huffington Post

Curiously, the suspect has been involved in a long-term and ongoing battle with alleged corruption in his home state. This has led many conspiracy-theorists at this point to label the suspect as an obvious patsy. In 2007, the suspect wrote a letter of complaint outlining allegations of wrongdoing against the North Mississippi Medical Center, and alleged subsequent harassment by various agencies and other unknown parties.  

The following is being copied in full in order to ensure that the information remains publicly available as it has already been scrubbed from other locations on the internet, including the hard-copy address of the original site. The material is being saved for educational, conversational, and library reference purposes only. Readers are encouraged to read the original report, so long as it is available, directly at the Ripoff Report.

After owning & operating a commercial & residential cleaning business for almost 8 years, I landed a contract with the largest non-metropolitan hospital in America, AKA North Mississippi Medical Center, which fronts itself as a "not-for-profit" charity hospital in Tupelo, Mississippi.

I was immediately put in charge of the highest traffic area of this 650 bed facility & cut costs by 30% in the first 3 months of employment. I was also written up in various newsletters and made the front page of the local daily newspaper which read "People Well Met...Kevin Curtis, local entertainer does more than make tile floors shine at NMMC"--Staff writer, Scott Morris went on to publish several other articles surrounding my music and work accomplishments.

After about a year and a half of employment, I questioned management about unfair employment practices & work ethics involving Hispanics, who did not speak English working excessive hours & off the clock each day, while non-hispanic's were being sent home and/or written up for not having his/her "nametag".

Then, one night, the drainage system backed up in the morgue. I was asked by a new supervisor to go into the morgue (which was located on the ground floor which I had been in charge of for more than a year.

Unthinkable things washed back up through the drainage system under the autopsy table. I put on a face mask and gloves and began the extraction process to prepare the floors for maintenence.

About 4 hour into the job after I laid down the first coat of sealer, I became very thirsty. I was unable to exit the morgue due to floor finish not drying as fast as I had anticipated with the humidity level, so I opened the dor to a small refrigerator located to the right of the autopsy table. I assumed I might find some water or anything to drink as I was dehydrated.

What I discovered, changed my life forever! There were dismembered body parts & organs wrapped in plastic. A leg, an arm, a hand, a foot, hearts, lungs, tissue, eyes and even a severed human head! I guess I was in a state of shock when I rushed out of the morgue because a physician asked me "What's wrong"?

I told him exactly what I had seen & asked him what they did with so many body parts? He looked very strange & did not answer me. Instead, wrote something down on a piece of paper. I suddenly became a prime "person of interest" where my every move was watched & video-taped.

I escorted a young radiology technician to the morgue as she did not believe me. When she saw the body parts and severed head, she could not believe it either. We told every single person in Radiology what was in the old upright refrigerator.

I immediately noticed a change in the atmosphere. Security guards were all of a sudden around me...walking behind me and I could hear video camera's zooming in on me as I walked down the hallways that night. Security followed me to the time card machine that night for the first time in 14 months.

The following day, I was called over the loud speaker for the first time since joining the team at NMMC. I was questioned by men I had never met in my life. I was asked to sign several false documents stating I was in an area of the NMMC that I was not authorized to be in and would be hereby suspended without pay while the matter at hand was investigated. I did not go to law school like my sister but I knew better than to sign something like that.

After refusing to sign the false documents, I was on my way to the CEO's office, Dr. Jeff Barber (who was later terminated) and before reaching his office, 6 security officers grabbed me and held me while placing hand-cuffs on my wrists and walked me out of the hospital in front of all of my friends and co-workers. I was informed to not appear on company property until notified in writing. (seemed they had practice in this area)

I researched court dockets & discovered thousands of lawsuits filed against this so-called "not-for-profit", charity healthcare system. I went public with my story and lawsuit. I contacted various media outlets but was unable to get my story in print. I was notified via U.S. mail that I was terminated and banned for life but no reason as to why.

3 Years of research lead to countless court battles, cops harassing me weekly, death threats, personal & financial losses, several thefts, my home burned down, car exploded, marriage dissolved & bankruptcy. You can imagine how helpless I felt the day I found out my attorney dropped my case & represented the very hospital I filed suit against?

The attorney's name was Jim Waide. My brother said he was the best of the best and specialized in areas such as this. He kept telling me "don't mention the body parts you discovered until we get a grand jury trial". He focused on the illegal immigrant issues and wrongful firing.

He held onto the case for 18 months and dropped it one day after a team of attorney's and members of the hospital's administration offered me $10,000.00 and said I would have to sign a "gag order" stating that I would never talk about my lawsuit or the body parts I discovered to ANYONE. I refused.

I sent letters to State Representative Roger Wicker, Senator Trent Lott and Thad Cochran. I never heard a word from anyone. I even ran into Roger Wicker several different times while performing at special banquets and fundraisers in northeast, Mississippi but he seemed very nervous while speaking with me and would make a fast exit to the door when I engaged in conversation leading up to my case against NMMC.

On May 23, 2003, an intoxicated assistant district attorney pushed me backwards during a debate about corruption in northeast, MS. and then put a loaded 9 mm bereta to my head in front of my (then) wife and 2 sons, ages 7 and 9.

I didn't know at the time he was an assistant DA in Tupelo. All I knew was that the city hired him to play rythem guitar in a special new production that I developed including my older brother Jack. The show was gaining attention as we are the only brother duo Elvis Presley Tribute act in the world.

Pat Rasberry, executive director of the Tupelo Convention & Visitor's Bureau drove up right at the moment he put the gun to my head and cocked it. I had my hands up in the air. She jumped out of her car and he threw the gun into his truck like nothing ever happened.

I filed charges against him for assault but instead of HIM going to jail for almost killing me in front of my family, the police showed up at my door and arrested ME.

There is no jail time for simple assault. He physically assaulted me by putting his hands on me just before putting the gun to my head. I have been to jail various times on this same charge and was made to stand trial with no legal representation for 7 hours in justice court, yet there is NO RECORD of this or any trials.

I feel this and everything that has been happening since 2000 is a direct result of my finding the dismembered body parts and being terminated from the largest employer in the state.

I am watched by police officers, followed, my trash taken, harassed, threatened my city officials and put on the no hire list. I don't have much more to lose and was notified last week that the charges for simple assault have been re-instated.

"State of Ms Vs Paul K. Curtis" in Justice court, Tupelo, Mississippi on October 10, 2007 at 9:00 am

I have no faith left in the Mississippi Justice system. I feel my coming forward with my story and releasing it to news media all over the USA in 2001 has helped expose the illegal body parts and organ trade market world-wide.

I personally sent out more than a million emails in one year detailing what happened to me when I found the body parts at NMMC. In 2004, 4 arrests were made in New York City. In 2006, another illegal body parts scam was discovered in North Carolina. I am confident that although no local media has agreed to put in print what happened to me in Tupelo or the trigger-happy, intoxicated assistant DA, I know in my heart that my coming forward has brought national attention to this terrible and illegal black market.

This is Kevin Curtis and I approve this report.

Kevin
Booneville, Mississippi


Check out the suspect's own website at the following link:

https://sites.google.com/site/paulkevincurtis/


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