Man enters plea in lethal ricin case
A 57-year-old man accused of making a deadly biological chemical was wheeled into federal court Friday to plead not guilty to illegally possessing a lethal toxin and weapons.
Roger Bergendorff is scheduled to go on trial June 17.
Bergendorff has been using a wheelchair since his release from the hospital April 16, when he was quickly taken into custody by federal authorities. He has remained at the Clark County Detention Center since his arrest.
Bergendorff was taken to Spring Valley Hospital Medical Center Feb. 14 after calling paramedics to his room at an Extended Stay America motel because he was struggling to breathe. He later fell into a coma.
Motel employees entered his room and discovered two weapons with silencers. Las Vegas police who responded to the motel on Valley View Boulevard near the Strip found two vials of a substance later identified as ricin.
Bergendorff has cooperated with authorities and acknowledged that he made the ricin in the basement of his cousin's Utah home.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregg Damm told U.S. Magistrate Peggy Leen that Bergendorff had enough of the powder to kill about 500 people. An amount the size of a pin head can kill a person.
It was unclear whether ricin exposure caused Bergendorff's illness. By the time the ricin was found in the motel room, it would have been flushed from Bergendorff's system and therefore undetectable, FBI agents said.
Bergendorff's lawyer, Paul Riddle, said his client suffers from heart failure. Bergendorff caught pneumonia and his kidneys failed.
Riddle declined to comment on his client's plea, saying he first must look over the evidence provided by the government.
Investigators do not believe Bergendorff is a terrorist or was involved in a conspiracy, U.S. Attorney Gregory Brower said.
Bergendorff said he thought about harming people who had made him angry in the past but had no plans to use the ricin.
Contact reporter Adrienne Packer at apacker@reviewjournal.com or 702-384-8710.
