U.S. Department of Justice

Federal Bureau of Investigation

257 East 200 South, Suite 1200
Salt Lake City, Utah 84111

For Immediate Release

Date: March 2, 2008

Contact: SA Juan T. Becerra
Salt Lake City, Utah
(801) 579-1400

Remarks by
Timothy J. Fuhrman
Special Agent in Charge, Salt Lake City Division
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Press Conference
Riverton, Utah
March 2, 2008

Good Morning, I am Tim Fuhrman, Special Agent in Charge for the FBI in Salt Lake City .

I am pleased to be joined by a number of colleagues from the public safety and law enforcement community in providing this briefing to you. This has truly been a joint coordinated effort by all of us in the last 48 hours since we first learned of the connection between the Ricin investigation in Las Vegas and here in the Salt Lake Valley .

This morning, the joint effort continued with the execution of a search warrant at the following four locations: 1) 3004 West 13400 South, Riverton , Utah ; and 2) Three storage units located at Jordan Self Storage, 9528 Bagley Park Road , West Jordan , Utah .

The search warrant and affidavit in support of the warrants have been sealed by order of the court so I am prohibited from discussing the information contained in them.

With respect to search warrants, I am aware that there have been some media reports indicating that a search warrant was executed at the Tholen residence yesterday. That is not correct; this morning’s searches are the first that we have conducted in the Salt Lake Valley .

The searches this morning are being conducted in a methodical professional manner by individuals especially trained to conduct these types of searches. As you are aware, this investigation involves possible contamination of a highly toxic substance, Ricin, and those individuals conducting the search need to take all the necessary precautions in doing the search. Because of those cautions, this search will take quite some time though I cannot predict what that length of time will be.

There are two final points I would like to make:

1. As we have stressed from the beginning in our joint effort, the safety of the public is our paramount concern. There is nothing that we are currently aware of which we believe places the public or any individuals in any danger of exposure to Ricin.
2. As with any investigation, this one is evolving and the investigation will go where the facts and evidence leads. We are very early in the investigation, and we will continue to investigate as long as necessary to ensure the public’s safety and determine if any criminal violations occurred.