A Canadian woman who sent a poison-laced letter to then-President Donald Trump in 2020 was sentenced to almost 22 years in a United States prison, a U.S. district judge ruled Thursday.
Pascale Ferrier, a 56-year-old dual Canadian and French citizen, was sentenced to 262 months in prison, as outlined by a plea deal, which will also see her removed from the U.S. after finishing her sentence. Ferrier pleaded guilty to violating biological weapons when sending letters that contained the poison ricin to Trump and police officials in Texas, where she had been jailed in 2019.
TRUMP’S ‘MOST DANGEROUS CASE IN GEORGIA COULD ALSO BE THE LONGEST DELAYED
“There is absolutely no place for politically motivated violence in the United States of America,” prosecutor Michael Friedman said in a statement obtained by Politico. “There is no excuse for threatening public officials or targeting our public servants.”
The letter to Trump, which called him the “The Ugly Tyrant Clown,” was intercepted at a mail sorting facility in September 2020 before it reached the White House. Ferrier had created the poison herself at her home in Quebec.
“If it [the poison] doesn’t work, I’ll find better recipe for another poison, or I might use my gun when I’ll be able to come,” the letter to Trump read. “Enjoy! FREE REBEL SPIRIT.”
Ferrier was arrested after attempting to enter the U.S. through the northern border near Buffalo, New York. According to authorities, she was carrying a gun, a knife, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition when she was arrested.
Ferrier’s attorney, Eugene Ohm, told the court that the Canadian had no criminal record prior to an arrest in Texas where she would not leave a park after it closed, and the arrest in Buffalo. Ohm also described her as “inordinately intelligent” and claimed Ferrier earned a master’s degree in engineering and raised two children as a single parent.
Ferrier described herself as a “peaceful and genuinely kind person” but claimed she got upset about abuses of power and unfairness. She also described herself as more of an “activist” than a terrorist.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“I consider myself to be an activist, not a terrorist,” Ferrier said. “Activists are constructive, terrorists are destructive. The only regret I have is that it didn’t work and that I couldn’t stop Trump.”
Ferrier has also been banished from the U.S. upon the completion of her sentence and will be forced to be under supervised release for life if she ever returns, according to the plea agreement.
