NEW YORK – A man looking to acquire ricin so he could sell what he called "easy death pills" and guarantee "risk-free" murder has been convicted of federal charges in New York.
Cheng Le (LEE) was convicted Thursday of trying to acquire ricin as a weapon, postal fraud and identity theft. The jury returned its verdict after a four-day trial.
Prosecutors say the 22-year-old Manhattan man was arrested in December after he contacted an FBI covert employee online using an encrypted messaging service and asked about ricin. Authorities say Le was wearing latex gloves when he went to a postal office to retrieve a fake shipment of pills.
Prosecutors say Le's computer was open to the online account he used to communicate with the FBI employee when his apartment was raided.