The Logan man charged with sending ricin in the mail to the White House, the Pentagon and FBI headquarters pleaded not guilty on Thursday.
William Clyde Allen III entered the plea despite confessing to the crime when interviewed by authorities. A four-day trial is scheduled to begin on Dec. 26.
According to an affidavit from the FBI, Allen admitted to mailing envelopes that contained crudely ground castor beans — used to make the poisonous ricin — to President Donald Trump, Secretary of Defense James Mattis, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John M. Richardson and FBI Director Christopher Wray.
The letters were intercepted on Oct. 2 before they reached their intended destinations; Allen was arrested at his home in Logan the following day.
Allen also confessed to sending “letters with the same contents to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the Queen of England, Russian President Vladimir Putin and the secretary of the Air Force” — although there has been no evidence released by the FBI that those letters were either sent or received.
In a hearing on Monday, federal Magistrate Judge Dustin B. Plead ordered Allen to be held without bail.
