Shannon Richardson
Shannon Richardson | |
---|---|
Born | Shannon Rogers August 31, 1977 U.S. |
Other names | Shannon Rogers Guess[1] Shannon Rogers Guess Richardson[2] Shannon Guess Richardson[3][4] |
Occupation | Actress |
Years active | 2009–2013 |
Known for | Sending letters laced with ricin |
Criminal charge | Possession of a toxin for use as a weapon |
Criminal penalty | 18 years $367,000 in restitution[5] |
Criminal status | Incarcerated |
Spouse(s) | Nathan Richardson (m. 2011–14)[6] |
Children | 6 |
Shannon Richardson (née Rogers; born August 31, 1977)[7] is a former American actress and convicted felon.[7] She worked in television and film roles, most notably The Walking Dead, but is best known for sending ricin-laced letters to U.S. President Barack Obama and New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, for which she was convicted and sentenced to 18 years imprisonment in July 2014.[8][9]
Career
Richardson appeared in minor roles in television series such as The Vampire Diaries, Franklin & Bash, and The Walking Dead.[10][11][12]
Personal life
Was abandoned by her mother at the age of 2 and raised by her father, Terry Rogers. Terry worked at General Motors in Doraville, Georgia. She is the oldest of 2 siblings. One brother and one sister.[13] At the time of her arrest, Richardson lived in New Boston, Texas.[14][15] She has been married three times.[1] On October 8, 2011, she married Nathan Richardson, a U.S. Army veteran who works as a mechanic in a military depot.[7] He filed for divorce in June 2013.[5]
Shannon donated bone marrow in 2011 to save the life of a young girl with leukemia.[16]
At the time of her arrest in June 2013, Richardson had five children, ranging in age from 4 to 19 with her two previous husbands and was pregnant with her sixth child.[17] None of Richardson's children were fathered by her current husband.[17][18] On July 4, 2013, Richardson gave birth to a baby boy, named Brody, while in custody. Officials said that the baby was born four months prematurely, weighed only two pounds at birth, and that he needed to remain hospitalized.[19] In August 2013, Nathan Richardson won temporary custody of Brody.[20][21]
Arrest and conviction
In May 2013, while going through a divorce, Richardson called the police and accused her husband, Nathan Richardson, of mailing letters laced with the poison ricin to several politicians.[1][18] Nathan Richardson has not been charged with any crime.[1][22][23] He told investigators that his wife set him up.[24] Investigators found evidence that she had mailed the ricin-laced letters herself in an effort to set up her estranged husband.[14][25][26] Richardson was arrested on June 7, 2013 for her alleged involvement in ricin-laced letters being sent to politicians such as President Barack Obama and New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg.[27][28] She was charged with "mailing a threatening letter to President Barack Obama".[4][29]
On June 6, Richardson confessed that she had mailed the three letters, knowing they contained ricin, but claimed her husband made her mail the letters.[4] On June 20, a federal judge ordered Richardson be given a psychological examination, based on a request from her court-appointed attorney, who said she had shown "a pattern of behavior" that raised questions about her ability to assist in her own criminal defense.[30]
On June 28, Richardson was indicted and charged in the mailing of ricin-laced letters to President Obama and Mayor Bloomberg. The three-count indictment accused her of mailing three threatening letters around May 20 to Obama, Bloomberg, and Mark Glaze, the director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns.[9] A criminal complaint filed on June 7 revealed that the FBI had used Mail Isolation Control and Tracking (MICT), a previously undisclosed mass surveillance program run by the U.S. Postal Service, to narrow its investigation to Richardson.[31]
On November 22, Richardson reached a plea agreement on three counts.[32] On December 10, she pleaded guilty and was sent to the Texas State Prison System. The U.S. government contracts with county and state officials nationwide to hold federal prisoners pending trial.[33] On July 16, 2014, Richardson was sentenced to 18 years in prison for sending ricin-laced letters to President Obama and Mayor Bloomberg.[34][35]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://archive.11alive.com/CIA/295623/320/Struggling-Ga-actress-linked-to-ricin-case
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://www.themediaspeaks.com/2013/12/12/walking-dead-actress-pleads-guilty-to-sending-ricin-to-obama/
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ Chron.com
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- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
- Shannon Richardson at the Internet Movie Database
- Shannon Guess profile at the Atlanta Motion Picture Studios company website
- Pages using duplicate arguments in template calls
- Use mdy dates from June 2013
- Articles with hCards
- No local image but image on Wikidata
- 1977 births
- 21st-century American actresses
- 21st-century American criminals
- Actresses from Texas
- American film actresses
- American television actresses
- Living people
- People from Bowie County, Texas
- Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government
- Ricin