Canadian woman sentenced to nearly 22 years for sending poison-laced letter to Trump

A self-described Canadian “activist” has been sentenced to more than 21 years after pleading guilty to sending a poison-laced letter to Donald Trump during the 2020 presidential election.

Pascale Cecile Veronique Ferrier, 56, was sentenced to 21 years and 10 months for sending letters to Trump in the fall of 2020 as well as several Texas law enforcement officials the year before, the Justice Department said Thursday.

Ferrier had pleaded guilty in January to sending the letters containing the deadly toxin ricin, but the federal court had delayed signing off on the deal so Ferrier could attend her graduation ceremony at Georgetown, where she had been taking classes while behind bars.

“I am not a terrorist,” Ferrier said during Thursday’s sentencing hearing. “Terrorists widely spread terror and death by targeting innocent people. I saw my actions as an act of activism.”

In her letter to Trump, Ferrier described the former president as an “ugly tyrant clown” and urged him to “give up” his reelection bid.

“The only regret I have is that it didn’t work and I couldn’t stop Trump before he (executed his plan) to try to stay in power,” she said Thursday. “It was never my intention to harm innocent people. And in fact, I did not harm anyone.”

Ferrier’s letters were intercepted well before making it to their intended recipients. She was arrested at the U.S.-Canada border in September 2020 while trying to enter the country in possession of a loaded handgun, nearly 300 rounds of ammunition, a stun gun, pepper spray, a baton and a phony Texas driver’s license.

Assistant U.S. attorney Michael Friedman said the sentence was a warning to others.

“There is absolutely no place for politically motivated violence in the United States of America, a nation of laws where the people choose our leaders by voting,” Friedman said. “Political violence deeply offends our cherished democratic history and traditions.”

After serving her sentence, Ferrier will be deported. She may face additional charges in Canada for manufacturing a prohibited substance for making the ricin at her Montreal home.