Walking Dead Bit Player Sentenced to 18 Years in Prison for Ricin Letters

Shannon Richardson, a 36-year-old actress from Texas, was given the maximum sentence of 18 years in jail under her plea deal on a charge of possessing and producing a biological toxin. She has also been ordered to pay $367,000 in restitution.

CBS News reports that Richardson, who had minor roles on TV’s ‘The Walking Dead’ and the Sandra Bullock movie ‘The Blind Side,’ was arrested last June for sending letters with the deadly toxin ricin to President Obama and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg. Richardson pleaded guilty last December.


“I never intended for anybody to be hurt,” she told the court. “I’m not a bad person. I don’t have it in me to hurt anyone."
Richardson reportedly mailed the letters and then went to police to claim that her estranged husband, Nathan Richardson, was responsible for mailing them. However, inconsistencies with her story, as well as an investigation into her online purchases, led to Richardson’s arrest. The investigation revealed that she had made purchases for the materials required to make ricin online.

She later confessed that she lied to authorities about her husband’s involvement.