With Ricin Case Crumbling, FBI Targets New Man

[Purveyor]

APRIL 23--With federal prosecutors apparently poised to drop charges against the Mississippi man accused of sending ricin-tainted letters to President Barack Obama and two other public officials, FBI agents are searching the home of a former Republican congressional candidate in connection with the dangerous mailings.

Paul Kevin Curtis, 45, was arrested last week for allegedly sending the threatening letters to Obama, U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, and a Mississippi county judge. But Curtis has been released from custody amid signs that the case against him has collapsed.

During a court hearing yesterday, lawyers for Curtis contended that he had been framed and pointed investigators toward James Everett Dutschke, a 41-year-old Tupelo man with whom Curtis has feuded. Like Curtis, Dutschke is a martial arts expert, a musician, and a Mensa member.

Dutschke was arrested in January on a child molestation charge in connection with the alleged assault of a seven-year-old girl at the tae kwon do studio he operates. In March, he was named in a three-count felony indictment accusing him of fondling a victim under the age of 16 (each count carries a maximum 15-year prison term). Dutschke, now free on bond, has previously been convicted of indecent exposure.

In 2007, Dutschke was the unsuccessful Republican candidate against Stephen Holland, the incumbent Democratic state representative from the Tupelo area. Holland’s wife Sadie is the judge to whom one of the ricin-tainted letters was sent.

Dutschke is pictured in the above mug shot.

MORE...

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/ricin-case-crumbling-678452

[Downwinder]

1. Well, he has been consorting with a gang of thieves.

[seabeyond]

2. creep. fry his ass. nt

[FarCenter]

3. They're both Mensa members!

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. Sounds like Dutschke has all the qualifications needed to run as a Repug.

[Phillip McCleod]

5. the thot plickens!

bet the freepers are freaking out about this one. they were *so sure* they'd finally found another example of a liberal terrorist. now.. oops! it was a republican! d'oh!!

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. Ah, Republican values. A conviction for indecent exposure

and charges of sexual assault of a 7 year old.

He has listed himself as a member of the National Rifle Association and the conservative Federalist Society, and reported that he was the honorary Mississippi chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee.

This is the kind of person the Republicans honor.

[Recovered Repug]

7. He kind of looks like a young Val Kilmer.

[Cirque du So-What]

8. Quite a day

First we find that the elder brother in the Boston bombing dyad was an Alex Jones aficionado, now this. RWers will be backpedalin' & crawfishin' like there's no tomorrow.

[DirkGently]

9. Hooboy. That Elvis impersonator never seemed right for this.

[Logical]

10. Lets just call these mistakes a 'Richard Jewell" as a shortcut. What a farce! n-t

[Fumesucker]

12. I was thinking Anthrax myself

But Jewell fits too.

[Logical]

14. Great point. That was a mess also. So sad people tend to trust the FBI so much. n-t

[ProgressiveProfessor]

11. Elvis has left the jail, not just the building