Man Pleads Guilty To Sending Ricin-Tainted Letters To Obama, Congress

James E. Dutschke stands in the steet near his home in Tupelo, Miss., and waits for the FBI to arrive and search his home Tuesday April 23, 2013 in connection with the recent ricin letters sent to President Barack Ob... James E. Dutschke stands in the steet near his home in Tupelo, Miss., and waits for the FBI to arrive and search his home Tuesday April 23, 2013 in connection with the recent ricin letters sent to President Barack Obama and Sen. Roger Wicker. (AP Photo/Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, Thomas Wells) MORE LESS
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OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi man has pleaded guilty to sending poison-laced letters to President Barack Obama and other officials.

James Everett Dutschke entered the plea Friday during a hearing in U.S. District Court in Oxford, Miss.

The 42-year-old previously pleaded not guilty and denied sending the letters. He also denied a later charge that, while incarcerated, he tried to recruit someone else to send a ricin-tainted letter.

Dutschke has been jailed since April on charges of sending the letters to Obama, Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, and a Mississippi judge. The judge was the only one to receive a letter, though she was not harmed. The letters to Obama and Wicker were intercepted.

Prosecutors recommended a 25-year sentence. That sentence would run concurrently with any sentence Dutschke would face in state court, where he’s facing unrelated fondling charges.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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