A 56-year-old dual citizen of Canada and France, was sentenced Thursday to 262 months in prison for her role in sending threatening letters containing homemade ricin, a deadly toxin, to the White House, then-President Donald J. Trump, and eight Texas State law enforcement officials.
The sentencing of Pascale Cecile Veronique Ferrier was announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Washington Field Office and San Antonio Field Office.
Ferrier’s sentencing comes after she pleaded guilty on Jan. 25 to prohibitions with respect to biological weapons in two separate criminal cases before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The cases involved her sending threatening letters filled with ricin to high-profile political and law enforcement targets.
According to court documents, Ferrier admitted to manufacturing ricin at her residence in Quebec, Canada, in September 2020. Ricin is a lethal poison derived from the waste produced during the processing of castor beans. She placed the toxin into envelopes, along with handwritten letters, which she mailed to the White House and to eight Texas State law enforcement officials.
The motivation behind Ferrier’s actions stemmed from her belief that the Texas law enforcement officials were connected to her detention in the state during the spring of 2019.
In early September 2020, Ferrier used her Twitter account to suggest violence against then-President Trump, writing, “please shoot [T]rump in the face.” The letters contained menacing language, with the one addressed to then-President Trump instructing him to “[g]ive up and remove [his] application for this election.”
All the threatening ricin-laced letters were mailed from Canada to the United States. On Sept. 20, 2020, Ferrier was apprehended at the Peace Bridge Border Crossing in Buffalo, N.Y., while driving a car loaded with a firearm, numerous rounds of ammunition, and other weapons. She was arrested and has been in custody ever since.
In addition to her 22-year prison term, Ferrier was sentenced to a lifetime of supervised release. An order of judicial removal will require her to leave the United States once her prison term is complete.
