Local Teen Pleads Guilty To Sending Ricin-Laced Birthday Card To Rival
By Brad Segall
DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (CBS) -- A Montgomery County teenager today admitted in Bucks County Court that he sent a poison-laced birthday card earlier this year to the man dating his former girlfriend.
And now he's facing new charges for allegedly threatening a prosecutor and a detective.
Nicholas Helman pleaded guilty today to attempted murder, attempted aggravated assault, and risking a catastrophe -- all felonies.
The 19-year-old Hatboro man did not offer a motive for why he manufactured a fatal dose of ricin and then laced the card, before sending it to the Warminster man last March.
Prosecutor Antonetta Stancu says this case had an impact not only on the intended target but on the whole community.
"They continued to fear what potentially could be out there, what potentially his next step would be, and they feared going about their daily lives, considering this all came about just by getting their mail out of their mailbox," she said today.
Meanwhile, bail was set at $10 million for Helman on new charges. He is accused of criminal solicitation for allegedly trying to orchestrate a murder and kidnapping of a detective and a prosecutor from behind bars.