Pascale Cecile Veronique Ferrier, 56, a dual citizen of Canada and France, was sentenced to 21 years in prison Thursday, months after she pleaded guilty to sending poison-laced letters to then-President Donald Trump and eight Texas law enforcement officials in September 2020, according to multiple news organizations present.
In this file photo provided by the Hidalgo County (Texas) Sheriff's Office, showing Pascale Ferrier. ... [+]
Ferrier mailed a letter laced with a homemade ricin toxin from her home in Quebec to Trump at the White House and the law enforcement officers in Texas, according to prosecutors as well as an FBI investigation.
In the letter to Trump, whom she called an “ugly tyrant clown,” Ferrier wrote, “You ruin USA and lead them to disaster,” adding, “I have US cousins, then I don’t want the next 4 years with you as President,” according to a pre-sentencing filing.
Ferrier had previously been arrested in 2019 and spent 10 weeks in detention in Texas for showing police officers a fake ID while in possession of a loaded firearm, and the Texas officials she targeted were reportedly people she believed were involved in her detention there.
During the hearing Ferrier said that "the ricin I made didn’t have a harmful concentration,” arguing that her actions were “just a strong warning” and claiming that she “did not harm anyone." (No one died as a result of the ricin, but prosecutors argued the notes created fear and stress and that her actions still endangered public officials.)
The pre-sentencing filing said that Ferrier "appears to suffer from mental health issues," but doesn’t specify or elaborate.
Ferrier pleaded guilty in January to sending letters laced with homemade ricin, a deadly poison made from castor beans, to the nine individuals, including Trump. The letters were intercepted by law enforcement, and Ferrier was arrested while crossing into Buffalo from Canada in Sept. 2020. She had a history of making threatening remarks to the former president online, including saying “#killTrump” on Facebook and Twitter ahead of the letters being discovered.
Prior to the sentencing, Ferrier described herself as “an activist,” rather than a terrorist and said “the only regret I have is that it didn’t work and that I couldn’t stop Trump before he put in action his plans to try to stay in power.”
Canadian woman who sent a poison-laced letter to Trump sentenced to 21 years (NBC News)
Canadian woman sentenced to nearly 22 years for 2020 ricin letter sent to Trump White House (PBS)
Canadian Woman Who Allegedly Mailed Poison To White House Called Trump ‘Ugly Tyrant Clown’ (Forbes)