Quebec woman accused of sending poison letter to Donald Trump faces 16 new charges

MONTREAL – A Quebec woman who has been accused of sending a poison-filled letter to United States President Donald Trump is now facing 16 additional charges.

U.S. federal prosecutors in Brownsville, Texas, say Pascale Ferrier is now facing eight counts of violating the U.S. prohibitions with respect to biological weapons and eight counts of making threats via interstate commerce.

In a release, they allege Ferrier, who lived in a Montreal suburb, sent envelopes containing the poison ricin to several police agencies and correctional facilities in southern Texas in September.

Ferrier was arrested in Texas in the spring of 2019 and spent more than two months in jail before the charges she faced were dropped.

Ferrier was arrested by U.S. authorities at the U.S.-Canada border on Sept. 20.

She is currently being held in a Washington D.C.-area jail on a single charge of threatening the president.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 15, 2020.

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This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.