An Arkansas man who produced jars of the lethal poison ricin on his property with the intention of setting traps for trespassers was sentenced to eight years in prison for possessing a biological agent, prosecutors said.
The man, Jason Kale Clampit, 44, of Winslow, Ark., who made his own ricin, a poison that is extracted from castor beans, was sentenced on Friday to 96 months in prison without the possibility of parole, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Arkansas said in a statement.
According to court documents, a citizen, who was identified as Mr. Clampit’s sister, made an anonymous tip to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office in January 2024 and said that Mr. Clampit was manufacturing ricin and may have poisoned his mother with the substance in Winslow.
Ricin (pronounced RICE-in) is a chemical that is present in castor beans, which have been cultivated for millenniums for their oil. Ancient Egyptians used castor oil for its moisturizing and laxative effects, and the toxicity of castor beans has been long known. Ricin is a waste product left over from castor oil extraction.
In the 1940s, the U.S. military experimented with using ricin as a possible warfare agent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and groups have been accused of plotting terrorist attacks with the substance.
“Exposure to even a small amount of ricin may be fatal,” according to the C.D.C.
Mr. Clampit’s sister told the authorities that he had talked about knowing how to perform plant extractions, according to court records. His girlfriend also told the authorities that he had listened to podcasts about toxins and had researched them online.
After Washington County authorities received the tip, an investigation revealed that Mr. Clampit “had in fact, produced ricin at his residence in Winslow, Arkansas, for the stated purpose of setting traps for trespassers,” prosecutors said. Mr. Clampit told his sister he was concerned about thieves in the woods around his home, according to the U.S. attorney’s criminal complaint. Winslow is a city in the Ozarks region of northwest Arkansas with a population of about 344 residents.
In January 2024, a federal search warrant of Mr. Clampit’s property led to the seizure of several items associated with processing ricin that included castor beans and a coffee grinder, court records show.
After he was taken into custody, Mr. Clampit made statements on a monitored phone call from jail in which he directed someone to dispose of liquid ricin that was contained in a jar in a camper on his property, prosecutors said.
After listening to the phone call, F.B.I. agents contacted the person whom Mr. Clampit had directed and found “a jar containing processed ricin” in a trash can, according to prosecutors.
A grand jury indicted Mr. Clampit in March 2024, and he pleaded guilty in October.
The investigation revealed that Mr. Clampit had “inadvertently exposed himself to ricin, which made him extremely ill,’’ according to prosecutors. It’s not clear how Mr. Clampit’s mother may have been poisoned.
A lawyer for Mr. Clampit did not immediately respond for comment on Sunday. In a sentencing memorandum, a public defender assigned to Mr. Clampit said that he did not “commit the crime with intent to injure the United States, to commit terrorism, or aid a foreign nation.”
The public defender added that Mr. Clampit regretted his actions and was seeking rehabilitation, drug treatment and mental health treatment.
