The Canadian woman accused of sending poison to former president Donald J. Trump Jr. and threatening to kill the then head-of-state entered a not guilty plea to a superseding indictment out of Washington, D.C. on Monday afternoon.
A federal grand jury issued the superseding indictment against 53-year-old Pascale Cecile Veronique Ferrier, of Montreal, Quebec, last Monday, charging her with a count of threatening to kill and injure the president of the United States, a count of threats in interstate communications and a count of prohibitions with respect to biological weapons.
She also faces a 16-count indictment in Brownsville over allegations that she similarly sent poison and threatened eight Rio Grande Valley law enforcement officials last September.
The indictment alleges that Ferrier sent the letters containing the poison ricin to Alexander Sanchez, warden of the El Valle Detention Center; to Hidalgo County Sheriff J.E. “Eddie” Guerra; to three deputies who work in the Hidalgo County Detention Center; to Brooks County Sheriff Urbino “Benny” Martinez; to the warden at the Brooks County Detention Center, who is not named in the indictment; and to Mission Police Department Chief Robert Dominguez.
That indictment charges her with eight counts of prohibition with respect to biological weapons and eight counts of threats over interstate commerce.
This case is likely on hold until the Washington, D.C. proceedings against Ferrier conclude.
The letters sent to the Valley law enforcement officials surfaced last September after the U.S. Secret Service discovered a letter at a mail sorting facility addressed to the White House and Trump, a letter that contained ricin and threats to the former president’s life.
“Give up and remove your application for this election. So I made a ‘Special Gift’ for you to make a decision. The gift is in this letter. If it doesn’t work, I’ll find a better recipe for another poison, or I might use my gun when I’ll be able to come. Enjoy! FREE REBEL SPIRIT,” the letter to Trump read.
All the letters sent to the Valley, which also contained ricin, had similar language.
Federal prosecutors believe Ferrier sent poison to Valley law enforcement because she was arrested in Mission on March 12, 2019, and charged with unlawful carrying of a weapon and tampering with a government record.
Mission police found her in a vehicle at a park that day where she was armed with a handgun and in possession of a fake Texas driver’s license, according to previously released information in the case.
Those charges were dismissed and Ferrier was deported back to Canada.
She had been detained at all of the facilities in the Valley where she sent the letters, according to federal authorities.
She was arrested on Sept. 20, 2020, after turning herself into U.S. Customs and Border Protection at the Peace Bridge border crossing in Buffalo, New York.
A federal judge has ordered that she be held without bond pending trial.
