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A Riverton man who says he knew his cousin made and possessed a deadly toxin was sentenced today to 24 months probation. Thomas Tholen, 54, was sentenced to two years probation and was fined $500.
In the courtroom, Tholen thanked friends and family for their support and then listened as the judge handed down her sentence.
He pleaded guilty in August for failing to report a crime. Tholen was aware his cousin produced and possessed Ricin: a deadly toxin. And he deliberately misled the FBI, delaying the investigation.
Assistant U.S. Attorney John Huber said, "This is a hefty price for him to pay for an error in judgment, but it's a very serious crime in that the most deadly substance on earth, we're trying to find it, the alarms are going off, and he put us off for the better part of a week."
Rebecca Hyde Skordas, Tholen's attorney, said, "Does he regret not being more forthcoming to begin with? Of course. Sometimes you can't go back. You'd like to, but you can't, and that's why he's here."
Tholen did eventually cooperate with authorities and helped them with their case against Roger Bergendorff; that was part of the reason he was given probation and not jail time.
Tholen's cousin, Bergendorff, 57, pleaded guilty Aug. 4 in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas to possessing a biological toxin and is expected to be sentenced Nov. 3 to three years and a month in federal prison. He has insisted he never intentionally or accidentally released any of the lethal powder.
Police and prosecutors have cast Bergendorff as a troubled man who made the ricin on his own years ago, and they have said the case was not linked to terrorism.
Bergendorff lived at Tholen's house in the Salt Lake City suburb of Riverton in 2005-06. "He was helping a family member down on his luck and didn't anticipate it would land him here," said Skordas.
The 54-year-old freelance artist, who creates characters for video games, admitted in August that he lied when he told authorities Bergendorff never mentioned anything about ricin. He said he lied to Las Vegas police and FBI agents because he was scared.
Bergendorff has offered no clear explanation to authorities about why he made the deadly substance. He told The Associated Press in August that he distilled the lethal powder in 1998 while living in San Diego from the beans of a backyard castor plant. He said he carried it with him for a decade while living in Reno, Nev., Las Vegas and near Salt Lake City.
The case started to unravel in February, when Bergendorff was checked into a Las Vegas hospital for two weeks with breathing problems.
Authorities suspected Bergendorff was exposed to ricin, but said they could not be sure because the poison breaks down in the body within days. Bergendorff insisted he was suffering stress from a brother's death.
Tholen, meanwhile, traveled to Las Vegas and boxed items in Bergendorff's motel room when the rent ran out. He alerted authorities to containers with what police later said was about 4 grams of crude but lethal ricin powder. The discovery prompted an evacuation and decontamination process at the motel, and seven people were taken to hospitals for treatment.
Ricin has no antidote and can be lethal in amounts as small as the head of a pin. It prevents the body from synthesizing proteins and shuts down vital organs such as the liver, kidneys and heart.
E-mail: sdallof@ksl.com
(The Associated Press contributed to this report. Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)