The F.B.I. on Wednesday arrested a Navy veteran suspected of sending two envelopes to the Pentagon this week that contained raw materials for the deadly poison ricin. The man, William Clyde Allen III, was detained at a home in Logan, Utah. Two envelopes addressed to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and to the chief of the United States Navy, Adm. John Richardson, set off alarms in a mail screening facility outside the Pentagon on Monday. No one was injured. Defense officials had suspected that the letters contained ricin, but a Pentagon spokeswoman said on Wednesday that they actually contained castor beans, the raw material from which ricin is made. She said the F.B.I. was investigating. Another letter suspected of containing ricin was sent to President Trump at the White House on Monday, but was intercepted by the Secret Service. In a statement, the Secret Service said no one was injured.<doc-sep>A man was arrested in Logan, Utah, on Wednesday in connection with suspicious letters sent to President Donald Trump and other officials that were initially suspected of containing the deadly poison ricin, law enforcement sources and prosecutors said. The substance was later determined to be castor seeds, from which ricin is derived. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Utah said federal prosecutors "authorized a probable cause arrest in the ricin case" and that William Clyde Allen III, 39, of Logan was taken into custody. It's unclear when a complaint will be filed. A spokesman for the FBI’s Salt Lake City field office, Doug Davis, said in an email that there was an operation in Logan and “there are potentially hazardous chemicals involved,” and he said the public was being asked to stay away from the area. “No wider threat to public safety exists at this time,” Davis said. Three suspicious letters, two addressed to Secretary of Defense James Mattis and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson and another to Trump, were initially suspected of containing the poison ricin and were intercepted at mail processing centers or other locations, officials and sources said Tuesday. Law enforcement officials said Wednesday the letters did not contain ricin, which is made from castor beans, but instead contained a primitive form or precursor that is not very hazardous. "According to our preliminary analysis, the substance was castor seeds, from which ricin is derived," Chief Pentagon Spokesperson Dana White said in a statement about the two letters at the Pentagon mailing center. "The FBI is still investigating." U.S. Defense Department personnel, wearing protective suits, screen mail as it arrives at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, on Oct. 2, 2018. Thomas Watkins / AFP - Getty Images Allen enlisted in the U.S. Navy in October 1998 and left the service in 2002, the Navy said. He was listed as a damage control fireman apprentice, according to the Navy. Two years after his Navy tenure ended, he was charged in a child sex-abuse case involving two girls with whom he had an unspecified "relationship of trust," according to The Associated Press, citing court documents. He later pleaded guilty to lesser neglect and abuse charges and did not have to register as a sex offender. That same year, a woman filed a protective order against him in a separate case, the AP reported. He disputed her allegations, the details of which are not public, but agreed to the protective order. In 2008, he pleaded guilty to attempted aggravated assault and served about 2½ years in prison, authorities said. He was released in 2011. The letters to Mattis and Richardson were intercepted at a mail facility on the Pentagon campus but not within the main building itself, Pentagon spokesman Christopher Sherwood has said. Mattis is not in the country but is on an overseas trip meeting with European officials. On Tuesday Secret Service said in a statement that it intercepted a "suspicious envelope" addressed to the president. That envelope was intercepted at a location outside of the White House, the Secret Service said. Sources have said that all three letters were believed to be connected. Also on Tuesday, a suspicious letter addressed to Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, was received at his campaign headquarters in Houston, law enforcement sources have said. That letter, which contained a “white powdery substance” is not believed to be connected to the others, sources said. Logan is a city of around 48,000 about 80 miles north of Salt Lake City.<doc-sep>A former member of the Navy was taken into custody in Utah on Wednesday on suspicion of mailing envelopes filled with a suspicious substance to top federal officials, including President Trump. The man, identified as William Clyde Allen III, 39, was taken into custody in Logan, about 85 miles north of Salt Lake City, according to local FBI spokesman Doug Davis. “No wider threat to the public safety exists at this time,” Davis told the Logan Herald Journal. “As it is a pending matter, that’s all we can say at this time.” Two envelopes sent to the Pentagon, one addressed to Defense Secretary James Mattis and the other to Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson, contained a return address that linked them to the former sailor, officials told Fox News. Meanwhile, Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White told reporters traveling in Brussels with Mattis that the substance sent to the Pentagon was castor seeds, not the deadly poison ricin, as originally suspected. Ricin is part of the waste “mash” created when castor oil is produced. If it is made into a partially purified material or refined, ricin can be deadly, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Another envelope was addressed to Trump at the White House. A tip from the White House led officials at the Pentagon to discover the envelopes sent there. They were delivered Monday to an off-site mailing facility. The Secret Service revealed late Tuesday that it had received a “suspicious envelope” addressed to the president the day before. The agency said the envelope “was not received at the White House, nor did it ever enter the White House,” adding that the agency was “working jointly with our law enforcement partners to fully investigate this matter.” A fourth envelope was sent to Sen. Ted Cruz’s Houston office. With wires<doc-sep>
A Utah man has been arrested and accused of attempting to send a crude form of the poison ricin to President Trump and to the Pentagon, authorities confirmed Wednesday. Melodie Rybach, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Salt Lake City, said that William Clyde Allen III, of Logan, was taken into custody after federal prosecutors "authorized a probable-cause arrest in the ricin case." She added that a criminal complaint would likely be filed in federal court Friday. The arrest came one day after Pentagon officials said two envelopes that tested positive for ricin were isolated at a Pentagon mail screening facility and sent to the FBI. The envelopes were addressed to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and the chief of the Navy, Adm. John Richardson. A senior defense official confirmed to Fox News that Allen is a Navy veteran who served for four years, between 1998 and 2002. He worked as a damage control fireman apprentice. On the same day, the Secret Service disclosed that it had intercepted a suspicious envelope addressed to Trump, but noted that the envelope did not enter the White House. No injuries were reported in either incident. Earlier Wednesday, Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said that a preliminary analysis showed that the envelopes contained castor seeds, from which ricin is derived. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, if castor seeds are swallowed the released ricin can cause injury. It is not clear what was specifically in the envelope sent to Trump. The Associated Press, citing court documents, reported that Allen was charged in 2004 in a child sex-abuse case involving two girls with whom he had an unspecified "relationship of trust." He later pleaded guilty to lesser neglect and abuse charges and did not have to register as a sex offender. That same year, a woman filed a protective order against him in a separate case. He disputed her allegations, the details of which are not public, but agreed to the protective order. In 2008, he pleaded guilty to attempted aggravated assault and served about 2 1/2 years in prison, authorities said. He was released in 2011. Fox News' Jennifer Griffin and Kristin Brown and The Associated Press contributed to this report.