Canadian woman, 53, charged with mailing ricin to Donald Trump is held without bail as it's revealed she was arrested at the US border 'with a semiautomatic handgun, nearly 300 rounds of ammunition, pepper spray, a knife and a stun gun'
A woman charged with mailing ricing to Donald Trump was arrested at the Canada-US border with a semiautomatic handgun, nearly 300 rounds of ammunition, pepper spray, a knife and a stun gun, prosecutors say.
Pascale Ferrier of a Montreal suburb, was arrested a week ago as she tried to enter America between Fort Erie, Ontario, and Buffalo. Her lawyer entered a not-guilty plea on her behalf Monday.
The 53-year-old was ordered to be held without bail by a judge in Buffalo who cited 'a very strong case' against her based on an indictment in Washington, D.C.
U.S. Magistrate Judge H. Kenneth Schroeder Jr. cited a long history of assassinations and attempted assassinations of U.S. presidents since the killing of President Abraham Lincoln in finding that Ferrier was an ongoing threat to the president and others.
He also read from a letter that prosecutors allege Ferrier wrote to Trump and included in the ricin-laden container, in which she allegedly threatened to find a more dangerous poison or to use her gun to stop him from his presidential campaign.
'It would appear to me the government has a very strong case, especially assuming the legal validity of the alleged admissions at the time of her arrest,' Schroeder said of the woman, who has French and Canadian citizenship.
He ordered her transfer to Washington to face the one-count indictment.
Pascale Ferrier, 53, a French-born resident of Quebec, has been identified as the woman suspected of mailing ricin letters to President Trump at the White House
An envelope containing ricin was mailed and addressed to President Trump
Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Lynch said Ferrier was trying to enter the United States last week when an officer approached and asked if she was OK.
'No, I'm wanted by the FBI for the ricin envelope,' he quoted her as responding.
He said authorities handcuffed her and searched her vehicle, in which they found a semiautomatic handgun loaded with seven rounds of ammunition, nearly 300 rounds of other ammunition, pepper spray, a knife and a stun gun.
'She was loaded for bear, Judge,' the prosecutor said.
He said that ricin had been located at her apartment outside Montreal and that she was likely to face additional charges in Washington, Texas and Buffalo.
The envelope containing the toxic substance and the threatening letter was addressed to the White House but was intercepted at a mail sorting facility September 18. No one was harmed.
Besides the letter's threats was a command to Trump to 'give up and remove our application for this election,' authorities said.
According to court documents, Ferrier penned a note to Trump, telling him to 'give up and remove your application for this election.'
'So I made a 'special gift' for you to make a decision. This gift is in this letter,' she wrote, according to the affidavit. 'If it doesn't work, I'll find better recipe for another poison, or I might use my gun when I'll be able to come.'
The package, postmarked from Canada, included the letter in which she referred to Trump as 'The Ugly Tyrant Clown', according to an FBI affidavit filed in the case.
Less than two weeks before Ferrier's arrest, a Twitter user by the name Pascale Ferrier, from Laval, Quebec, tweeted this threatening message
Two minutes later, the same Twitter user sent out this message mocking Trump
This letter containing white powdery substance was sent from Canada to Hidalgo County Sheriff Effie Guerra
During the investigation, the FBI discovered that six additional similar letters appeared to have been received in Texas in September and also had stamps indicating that they'd been mailed from Canada, according to court papers.
Those letters 'contained similar language' to the letter that was sent to Trump and were sent to people affiliated with facilities where Ferrier had been jailed in 2019.
Investigators also matched Ferrier´s fingerprints from four of the letters, the complaint said.
In Facebook and Twitter posts in September, Ferrier, 53, also wrote "#killTrump" and used similar wording as she did in the letter, calling him an "Ugly Clown Tyrant," according to the document.
Ferrier was booked into the Hidalgo County jail in March of 2019 on two charges of unlawfully carrying a weapon and one charge of tampering with government records, according to online jail records.
Pascale is listed as living in Quebec, and was released in May of last year. The records state the charges against her were ordered dismissed.
Ferrier, a native of France living in Canada, had spent 20 days in a Texas jail last year after being charged with using a fake driver's license
Pascale Ferrier, a Canadian woman accused of mailing a package containing the poison ricin to the White House, was taken into custody Sunday, September 20 by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Peace Bridge border crossing near Buffalo, pictured
Her lawyer, Fonda Dawn Kubiak, argued that she should be granted bail.
'As Ms. Ferrier sits here today, she is presumed innocent,' Kubiak said.
She called her client 'highly educated' with the equivalent of a master´s degree in engineering in France and who was employed by an aircraft engineering company.
Kubiak said Ferrier could reside with her son in Quebec or possibly with family members in Texas.
RCMP officers prepare to enter an apartment complex in connection with the mailing of ricin to President Trump Monday, September 21
Canadian police descend on suburban Montreal apartment complex after an armed woman was arrested at the border and taken into US custody on suspicion of sending Trump a letter laced with ricin
An RCMP officer walks outside of an apartment complex during a raid in connection with the mailing of ricin to President Trump
Ferrier immigrated to Canada from France and became a Canadian citizen in 2015, according to her Facebook profile.
Justin Taylor, a cousin in Texas, confirmed she was originally from France. He said she has extended family in Texas and was looking at possibly moving there after driving to Texas in her RV. Her called her arrest very surprising. "A very nice lady, very warm and kind," Taylor said.
Ricin is found naturally in castor beans but it takes a deliberate act to convert it into a biological weapon.
Ricin can cause death within 36 to 72 hours from exposure to an amount as small as a pinhead. No known antidote exists.