Thomas Lavy

Thomas Lewis Lavy (December 18, 1941 – December 23, 1995) was an American farmer who attempted to cross the Canada–US border into Canada from Alaska with several firearms, ricin toxin, and $89,000 in cash in 1993.

He was turned away at the border, and the toxin impounded.

Lavy claimed at the time that the ricin was to poison the coyotes on his farm.

More than two years later he was arrested by the FBI on terrorism charges relating to the border incident, and Lavy hanged himself in his jail cell four days later.

Some media outlets called the incident a "thwarted terrorist attack" resulting in the death of the perpetrator, while others have suggested Lavy was the innocent victim of a "tragic case" of an overzealous FBI agent and prosecutor.

One journalist opined this may well be "another case where the government hounds some poor guy without mercy...until he kills himself".

The second child of Lilleton Lavy and Cora Yates, Lavy served as a military policeman during the Korean War.

Considered a naturalist who enjoyed gardening and hunting, he also kept a collection of exotic books, including several on elephant hunting.

He was married to Rebecca Davis, with whom he lived in Virginia, and had two children, Lewis Edward Lavy and Lisa Kay Hoelting (née Lavy).

The Associated Press dubbed Lavy a survivalist; his family denied he had any such leanings.

CQ Press claimed that Lavy was an alleged white supremacist, based on unsubstantiated reports that "Neo-Nazi" literature may have been found in his vehicle.

In the 1970s, Lavy worked as a radio repairman for Motorola in Oklahoma City.

He also lived in Troy, Missouri before taking a job as an electrician for an oil company on the Alyeska Pipeline in Valdez, Alaska.

In the autumn of 1992, he visited his sister Betty Krieg and her husband Bill in Harvester, Missouri, and told them that he hoped to retire and purchase a small property where he could raise chickens and tend a garden.

Several months later, he announced that he had found the perfect place, a cottage on six acres of land in Onia, Arkansas.

Lavy packed his belongings for the move south in April 1993.

He crossed from Alaska into Canada in his truck at the Beaver Creek, Yukon border crossing.

on 8 April 1993.

Lavy was "honest and forthright" when he explained to Customs officials that he had a shotgun, two .22 calibre rifles and a muzzleloading rifle, 20,000 rounds of ammunition, $89,000 and 130 grams (approximately 0.28 of a pound) of ricin, considered third amongst the world's most deadly substances.

In his car were two books, one describing how to extract ricin from castor beans, and another discussing ways to poison with toxic compounds; likely the books Silent Death and another some media reports dubbed The Poisoner's Handbook and others dubbed The Prisoner's Handbook.

There were also reports mentioning a third book, titled Get Even: The Complete Book of Dirty Tricks.

Lavy explained his possession of the ricin, which he claimed to have taken from the U.S. Army, was for use on his farms against coyotes.

He also told them that he kept it beside his cash as a deterrence against theft since a criminal would likely believe it was cocaine and kill himself snorting it.

Another report said that he suggested he may coat his money in the powder, to prevent anyone stealing it.

Federal officials did not believe his story about killing coyotes, equating it to using a thermonuclear device to ward off burglars.

After calling the U.S. Customs to run a criminal background check which came back negative, Lavy was denied entry into Canada, fined $750 for trying to import the weapons, and the ricin powder was confiscated.

He was then released back into the United States and told to report to U.S. Customs; he did so, declaring $22,500 in cash and listing his address in Valdez as PO Box 1297.

At this point, it seemed clear that no laws were considered to have been broken, and no prosecution would be forthcoming.

Canadian officials alerted their American counterparts of the incident, and also informed the Alaskan military base from which Lavy claimed to have stolen the poison.

Neither were interested; they stated that they were unaware of any theft or crime being committed.

It took the Canadians nearly a month before they understood the danger posed by ricin and transferred the bag to a container for hazardous materials.

It was kept in storage for nearly two years.

In this case, neither the Canadian nor American authorities had "heard of" ricin, and thus did not realise what it was.

Lavy entered the Lower 48 through Portal, North Dakota on April 12, this time listing his mailing address in Arkansas as PO Box 894, HC 73, Onia.

In the spring of 1995, FBI agent Thomas Lynch, previously involved in the ricin investigation of the Minnesota Patriots Council militia, was transferred to the FBI's Anchorage bureau in Alaska.

Once there he learned of the Lavy-border-crossing-incident two years earlier and requested a grand jury convene to charge Lavy.

On December 12, a grand jury recommended prosecution of Lavy.

After the fact, some journalists questioned why or how the FBI got involved at all.

Lynch forwarded case details to the Little Rock FBI office, where it was assigned to agent Roy Christopher in Jonesboro.

He determined that Lavy was an active member of the American Legion and had no arrest record, not even a driving violation.