Mass. man sentenced for ricin, prosecutor threat

June 21, 2011

A former Agawam man has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for illegally possessing the toxin ricin and threatening a prosecutor.

Michael Crooker pleaded guilty to the charges in March. He has been in federal custody since 2004, when he was arrested on charges of using the mail to transport a firearm. Agents who searched his apartment discovered what appeared to be a weapons lab along with castor and abrus seeds — the sources of ricin and abrin poisons.

Prosecutors say Crooker later sent a letter to an assistant U.S. attorney in which he invoked the name of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.

U.S. District Court Judge Douglas Woodlock sentenced the 57-year-old Crocker on Monday to the maximum 15 years in prison, followed by three years supervised released.