Man in ricin case questioned

The man at the center of a ricin investigation in Las Vegas has regained consciousness and "appears to be cooperative," an FBI spokesman said Friday.

Roger Von Bergendorff, 57, has been in critical condition at Spring Valley Hospital Medical Center since Feb. 14, when he placed an emergency call from his suite at the Extended Stay America, 4270 S. Valley View Blvd.

"We're confirming that Bergendorff's medical condition has improved, and he's been interviewed by the FBI in Las Vegas," Special Agent David Staretz said.

Staretz said the FBI would release no additional information, "due to it being a pending investigation."

Hospital spokeswoman Naomi Jones would say only that Bergendorff remained in critical condition Friday. She said the patient "has declined any media contact or interviews."

Authorities said vials of ricin, a deadly toxin, were found in Bergendorff's suite on Feb. 28. According to an application by Las Vegas police for a search warrant, which became public this week, officers recovered firearms from the suite two days earlier and "observed in plain view four anarchist cookbooks, which were tabbed to the section of making ricin."

After collecting the guns and books, police left Bergendorff's suite to book the property for safekeeping.

"While booking the property, they learned that Bergendorff had several sick animals that were taken to Humane Society," the search warrant application states. "Due to his unexplained medical condition, his sick animals and the books on manufacturing a biological weapon, the officers were quarantined and the residence was secured until a search warrant could be authored."

Las Vegas police initially took the lead in the investigation and quickly ruled out terrorism as a motive in the case. On Friday, Assistant Sheriff Mike McClary said the FBI was sharing the lead role in the investigation and would be controlling the release of information.

Staretz said FBI agents and Las Vegas police both participated in Friday's interview of Bergendorff.

Early in the investigation, police said two cats and a dog were found in Bergendorff's suite on Feb. 22. Management contacted the Humane Society to take care of the animals. Police said the cats were in good health, but a Humane Society veterinarian determined the dog was in poor health because of a lack of food and water, and the animal was destroyed.

A younger brother, Erich Bergendorff, said Roger Bergendorff was moved Wednesday from intensive to intermediate care in the critical ward at Spring Valley.

Erich Bergendorff said his brother was receiving dialysis for failing kidneys and still might be on a ventilator.

"I was never given a clear diagnosis," said Erich Bergendorff, who lives in Escondido, Calif., a suburb north of San Diego.

He said hospital officials told him Wednesday that his brother was awake and had been told that his beloved dog, Angel, was euthanized.

"It was my impression that they were able to communicate with him and he had talked enough to ask a few things," Erich Bergendorff said.

Police said Roger Bergendorff was in respiratory distress when he called and asked to be taken to a hospital. Authorities said his medical condition was consistent with exposure to ricin.

According to search warrant documents, Las Vegas police detectives found a "large quantity of the agent" at the Valley View location and "were still looking for any additional locations or devices in which the agent could be made without detection."

The records show that detectives searched Roger Bergendorff's 1999 Buick Century, which had a Utah license plate, on Feb. 29 at the Valley View location. They seized two pieces of mail, two folders of compact discs and two pawnshop slips.

Las Vegas police have said Roger Bergendorff is not considered a criminal suspect.

Friends and family members have described the man as an unemployed and unmarried graphic artist, a recovering alcoholic who loved his dog and cats and struggled to pay his bills while living in Huntington Beach, Calif.; Reno; the San Diego area; and finally in a pickup camper near Salt Lake City. He moved in recent months to the extended stay hotel on Valley View.

While Roger Bergendorff seemed down on his luck and deeply saddened by the death of his older brother in January, family members insisted he was not suicidal.

Police say a cousin, Thomas Tholen, of Riverton, Utah, was collecting Bergendorff's belongings from his hotel suite on Feb. 28 when he gave a manager a plastic bag containing several vials of what turned out to be ricin powder.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Contact reporter Carri Geer Thevenot at cgeer@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0264.