Man plotted to spray ex with homemade poison using squirt gun in Florida, feds say
A Florida man ordered products online to manufacture ricin — a biological toxin — as part of a plot to load it into a water gun and spray his former partner’s face, according to federal prosecutors
Kevin Deane Jones, 50, of Kissimmee, pleaded guilty on Tuesday, May 10, to possession of ricin and possession of two firearms as a convicted felon, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Middle District of Florida.
He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison on each count. A sentencing date was not announced.
Jones made the ricin in 2021 with the intent of killing his former partner, according to the news release. Ricin is a toxin found naturally in castor beans and can be lethal if ingested or inhaled, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Death can occur 36 to 72 hours after exposure, according to the agency.
Investigators said that Jones tested various water guns to see which ones leaked, according to the news release. He also planned to go on vacation immediately after spraying his ex in the face with the poison, “so that he would have an alibi when she died,” the release says.
Law enforcement officers stopped Jones on Dec. 17, 2021, before he planned to travel to the state where his former partner lived, according to the release. Officers found a plastic water gun in his vehicle along with five tubes of liquids that later tested positive for ricin, which he admitted to manufacturing. They also found more tubes containing ricin, castor beans, documents with information about ricin and about 200 rounds of ammunition in his home.
Agents for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives found a rifle, a handgun, a silencer and about 3,000 rounds of various types of ammunition in a storage unit rented in Jones’ name, the news release says. Jones, who is a convicted felon, is not legally allowed to have firearms or ammunition..
In 2013, letters containing suspicious powder addressed to the president and sent to multiple mail facilities tested positive for the ricin, according to the FBI.
This story was originally published May 10, 2022 at 3:33 PM with the headline "Man plotted to spray ex with homemade poison using squirt gun in Florida, feds say."