Utah suspect faces charges in ricin case

SALT LAKE CITY -- A Utah man was indicted Wednesday on charges he lied to authorities about the production of deadly ricin that was found in a Las Vegas hotel room, but his lawyer says the man knows nothing about the dangerous substance.

Authorities believe the ricin was made in the Salt Lake City area and that it was to have been used for an uncertain criminal purpose in what they broadly called a "lone wolf scenario."

A federal grand jury charged Thomas Tholen, 54, with misprision of felony, having knowledge of a crime but failing to report it and then trying to conceal it, U.S. Attorney Brett Tolman said.

"He knew more than he stated, and he misrepresented what he knew," Tolman said Wednesday.

The manufacture or possession of ricin, a biological agent, is prohibited by federal law.

Tholen's cousin, Roger Von Bergendorff, remains in a Las Vegas hospital and is a target of the investigation, said Tim Fuhrman, special agent in charge of the FBI's Salt Lake City field office.

Bergendorff, 57, an unemployed graphic artist, on Feb. 14 summoned an ambulance from his Las Vegas motel room, complaining of respiratory distress.

Bergendorff spent almost four weeks in a coma and has been treated for kidney failure, but it has not been determined if he was sickened by the ricin.

Tholen was collecting Roger Bergendorff's belongings from the motel room on Feb. 28 when he gave a motel manager a plastic bag containing several vials of what turned out to be ricin powder.

Both men "contemplated production of this for criminal purposes," Tolman said.

He said authorities were uncertain who made the substance. Nor are they certain of a motive.

But at a news conference Wednesday, Tolman and Fuhrman repeatedly brought up a possible lone wolf scenario where the ricin would be used selectively to harm someone.

Fuhrman, however, said investigators have turned up no evidence suggesting the ricin was part of a broader or indiscriminate terrorist plot.

Authorities who searched Tholen's house in the Salt Lake city suburb of Riverton and a storage shed haven't determined where the ricin was made, but they are certain the extract of castor beans was made in this area and that Tholen knew about it, Fuhrman said.

Bergendorff, who regained consciousness March 12, hasn't been charged.

"This is an ongoing investigation," FBI spokesman David Staretz in Las Vegas said Wednesday, declining comment.

Spring Valley Hospital spokeswoman Naomi Jones said Bergendorff remained in fair condition and was not under protective custody.

"He's being treated like any other patient at the hospital," she said.

Tholen answered FBI investigators' questions, but agents "feel he knows more than he's letting on," said Greg Skordas, the defendant's attorney.

"He was cooperative in an interview, in the search of his house, and his wife has been cooperative. So we're disappointed he gets indicted after all that," Skordas said.

Tholen maintains he can't offer any explanation for the ricin, because "there isn't anything to explain. It wasn't his," Skordas said.