By Marilyn W. Thompson
A former mail trucker in Jacksonville, Fla., who maintains a Web site that has included accusations of corruption by the government and the trucking industry, says he has been questioned by FBI agents investigating three incidents in which the toxin ricin was sent through the mail.
Daniel S. Somerson, of Jacksonville, Fla., a former trucker for Mail Contractors of America Inc. of Little Rock, said he was interviewed extensively by agents with the FBI's terrorism task force in mid-October.
That was after the first letter containing a ricin vial surfaced in a mail sorting facility near the Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport in South Carolina. At that time, Mail Contractors of America trucks brought mail to the facility.
Since then, ricin has been found at a White House mail facility and the office of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn.
Somerson said task force investigators have interviewed his wife at her workplace, a Jacksonville, Fla., school, asking if her husband might have knowledge about ricin, a lethal toxin made from castor beans.
Two agents extensively questioned a friend of Somerson's, another trucker for the same company, Somerson said.
Among the questions asked, Somerson said, was if the other trucker could account for his whereabouts on the dates when ricin, accompanied by letters signed "Fallen Angel," surfaced, and if he believed Somerson could have instigated the crimes.
A law enforcement source said there is "no live suspect" in the ricin mailings and that agents are interviewing truckers in many locations, some based on tips from girlfriends and wives.
The FBI has posted a $100,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the South Carolina case.
Somerson said he believes the FBI "is convinced that I am Fallen Angel or that I inspired Fallen Angel" through several Web sites.
He said he has been a victim of government harassment for some time because of his Web sites, which have been criticized by industry lawyers and government prosecutors.
Last fall, he was found in contempt of court by a federal judge and fined $5,000.
Somerson said he believes the ricin crimes are a "hue and cry from truckers who are fed up with an industry" in which the regulators are "in bed" with the regulated.
The FBI has suggested the South Carolina ricin letter was more an act of extortion than terrorism, sent by someone in the trucking industry upset by new federal regulations about truckers' work hours that went into effect Jan. 4.
The anonymous letters found in the Greenville and White House mailings complained about the regulations, specifically new rules on how long truckers may spend resting in their sleeper cabs.
No letter was found with the small amount of ricin discovered Feb. 2 in the mailroom of Frist's office in the Dirksen Senate Office Building.
Activists say there is deep anger among truckers about the most extensive changes in safety regulations in decades.
Some trucking companies, particularly long-distance haulers, have complained about additional costs for new hires and training that will be necessary to bring them in compliance with the more stringent rules.
The FBI has turned to radio talk-show hosts popular among truckers for help tracking down callers who have complained about the new regulations.
Somerson's main Web site, TruckingSolutions.com, has attracted a following among some segments of the trucking industry.
Claiming federal whistle-blower status, Somerson was involved in a protracted complaint against Mail Contractors of America, the major private carrier for the U.S. Postal Service, over its environmental policies, treatment of drivers and safety record.
Somerson's complaints were dismissed by Department of Transportation administrative law judges, leading him to post on the Internet inflammatory pictures and slogans, and allegations of improprieties by some of the judges.
The contempt of court fine was levied in September after Somerson created Web sites attacking the company and one of its lawyers on a laptop computer during court and displayed them during a recess.
A few weeks later, the first ricin letter surfaced in the airport facility near Greenville, S.C.
Somerson said agents soon showed up at his home and questioned him for about an hour. He said he declined to let them in but spoke to them through an open window.
Somerson said one of his lawyers was on the phone with him during the interview.
Somerson v. Yellow Freight System, Inc., 1998-STA-9 and 11 (ALJ Oct. 21, 1998)
TruckingSolutions.com --- Monopolization By Yellow Freight And ...
If someone would like to purchase the article of Somerson's letter from the NYTimes here is a link: Truckers Look in Their Ranks For 'Fallen Angel' Writer
By ANDREW JACOBS (NYT) 861 words
Late Edition - Final , Section A , Page 28 , Column 5 DISPLAYING FIRST 50 OF 861 WORDS -
The letter was brief and to the point. ...
''I'm a fleet owner of a tanker company,'' it said. ''I have access to castor pulp,'' a reference to the raw material to make the deadly compound ricin. ''If my demand is dismissed, I am capable of making ...