GAINESVILLE, Ga. – A judge on Friday said the fact that two north Georgia men likely could never have carried out a plot to target the federal government does not make their words and actions any less serious and sentenced each of them to serve 10 years in prison.
U.S. District Judge Richard Story disputed defense lawyers’ arguments that Samuel Crump, 71, and Ray Adams, 58, were just grumpy old men talking big with no intention to hurt anyone. There is a difference, Story said, between ranting and backing up words with actions.
“The crime charged here is pretty darned serious,” he asked. “We’re talking about acts that would take the lives of people.”
Both men were found guilty in January on a single count each of conspiring to make ricin to be used as a weapon. They also were found guilty of one count each of possessing a biological toxin for use as a weapon, identified in the indictment as ricin in its natural state, meaning it hadn’t been extracted from castor beans in which it occurs naturally.
Adams and Crump were among four men arrested in November 2011 after recordings were made by an undercover informant who attended their meetings at homes, during car rides and at a Waffle House restaurant.