By Cheri Roberts-Piper MTR News

On Thursday March 13th authorities announced that an Officer involved in the investigation of the Las Vegas Ricin incident tested positive for small amounts of Ricinine or Ricidine found in his system. Ricinine is an alkaloid (3-cyano-4-methoxy-N-methyl-2-pyridone) that shares a common plant source with Ricin, and its presence in the system infers Ricin exposure. However, the alkaloid substance is extracted from the seeds of the castor plant and does not derive directly from Ricin.

KTNV News in Nevada reportedly identified the Officer as Jim Mitchell and he is said to have no symptoms of Ricin poisoning. The Officer was one that arrived on the scene to search a Las Vegas hotel room on Feb. 26th - weeks after it’s occupant - who is believed to be suffering from Ricin exposure, called 911 on Valentines Day. Bergendorff had been transported to a local hospital for respiratory distress. He was reported to have fallen into a coma after arrival and remained so for many weeks although family members have reported differently and have said Bergendorff was merely heavily sedated.

By Cheri Roberts-Piper MTR News

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a story involving the timeline of the Ricin discovery in a Las Vegas hotel room pointing out all the discrepancies I found in the reporting that had been done on the case. Yesterday a follow up story was released by the Associated Press and featured on Yahoo’s front page as a headline.

The update continues to confuse with its vague language and further muddies the timeline and information reported in the original stories.

When the original story broke we were told the victim who may or may not be responsible for his own exposure to the Ricin was in a coma in a Las Vegas hospital. Yesterday’s updated story however states that the victim’s family members said the victim - 57 year old Roger Bergendorff, was sedated on Feb 23rd – this is before the story broke in the media.

Was Bergendorff just sedated all this time? Why was he so heavily sedated that authorities and the press reported he was in a coma? And why are the authorities only now able to speak with him if he was indeed only sedated?

OpEdNews

Original Content at http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_rob_kall_080302_ricin_man_identified.htm

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March 2, 2008

Ricin Man Identified-- Home, Warehouse to be Searched

By Rob Kall

According to a Homeland Security internal document obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the man in a coma whose room contained ricin is Roger Von Bergendorff, of Riverton Utah.

The ricin was discovered by his cousin, Thomas Tholen, according to an article by Associated Press, which also reported:

A down-on-his-luck Roger Von Bergendorff lived at the home of his cousin Thomas Tholen for more than a year before moving to Las Vegas about a year ago, said Tammy Ewell, who lives across the street from Tholen in Riverton, Utah.

She described Tholen and his wife, Ellen, as close friends.

"He was very much a loner. I would say more or less socially regressive. He just barely got by in life. He'd just barely make it," Ewell said of Von Bergendorff. "Tom was the last resort."

By Cheri Roberts-Piper MTR News

A few days ago authorities found and positively identified the deadly poison Ricin in a Las Vegas hotel room. A man lies silently in a coma in some desert hospital unable to tell anyone how he became ill. He is said to have been at the hospital since Valentines Day when he called an ambulance due to respiratory distress.

With an unconscience witness/victim/homegrown terrorist the police were able to find evidence in the hotel room that is too convenient to be true. Let’s look at the timeline of the story first, because it makes no sense, but is told in the style of Rumsfeld so that it isn’t immediately apparent it makes no sense.

Authorities say that on Sat Feb 22 a friend or relative of the rooms occupant reported to the hotel that there are pets left in the sick mans room.