US actress indicted for sending ricin letters to Obama

An American actress has been indicted fOr sending letters laced with the highly toxic ricin compound to President Barack Obama, a media report said Saturday.

The woman, identified as 35-year-old Shannon Guess Richardson from Texas, was charged by the federal government with two counts of mailing a threatening communication to the president and one count of making a threat against the president, Xinhua reported citing the Houston Chronicle.

Richardson appears in movies and on TV under the name Shannon Guess. She had small roles in TV shows "The Vampire Diaries" and "The Walking Dead". She had a minor role in the movie "The Blind Side".

Richardson is alleged to have sent ricin-tainted letters not only to the White House but also to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the mayor's Washington gun-control group, the report said.

The content of the letters is believed to be threat of violence against gun-control advocates, authorities said.

Richardson, who was arrested June 7, initially told the Federal Bureau of Investigation that it was her husband who mailed those letters, but later she said he "made her" do it.

The couple is believed to be going through a divorce, and the woman, already a mother of five, is pregnant again, the report said.

If convicted, Richardson faces up to five years in prison on each charge, authorities said. Richardson's attorney Tonda Curry said her client will plead not guilty.