SAN FRANCISCO – A California man arrested after an FBI manhunt has pleaded not guilty to charges that he possessed an illegal destructive device and a handgun with serial numbers removed.
Ryan Chamberlain entered his plea Monday in federal court in San Francisco. A magistrate judge then found Chamberlain to be a flight risk and a danger to the public, and refused a request to release him from jail to a hospital for mental health treatment pending trial.
In arguing against the release, a prosecutor disclosed that investigators had seized a handful of castor beans in Chamberlain's apartment in San Francisco in addition to the toxins abrin and pure nicotine that were previously disclosed.
Federal prosecutor Phil Kearney said the toxin ricin can be extracted from castor beans.
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