Ricin Found in Las Vegas, Gil Grissom Unavailable for Comment

What goes on in Vegas, stays in Vegas, unless it involves the deadly toxin ricin as CNN reports:

*A man who stayed in a Las Vegas hotel room where ricin was found is in critical condition at a hospital, where he has been since mid-February, said a Las Vegas
Metropolitan Police Department official. *

A man is in critical condition after exposure to ricin at a Las Vegas, Nevada, hotel.

Deputy Chief Kathy Suey said the man called from the hotel asking for medical help on February 14, saying he was suffering from respiratory distress, and was transported to the hospital. *

• Since he was gone from the extended-stay hotel and not paying his rent, managers began eviction procedures, Suey said at a news conference.*

• A friend or relative of his who came to remove his belongings from the room found the ricin Thursday, she said.*

• Tests confirm the substance found in the room was ricin, police said, but it remains a mystery how it got there. Suey__ __said the man hospitalized was not a suspect and police don't know whether the ricin was his, or if he even knew it was there.*

The AP reports a large response: "Homeland Security officials joined local police in the investigation.
Officials from the FBI, Las Vegas Health District, a hazardous materials team and the National Guard were also at the scene."

The National Guard unit is probably the 92nd Civil Support Team (WMD) out of Las Vegas. The CSTs (Which my pal Jason Sigger really, really hates) are highly trained WMD specialists complete with a very sophisticated mobile lab. Called the ALS, the lab might have gotten some use based on reports from MSNBC:* *"Two preliminary tests, one by police and one by the Nevada National
Guard, concluded that the substance was ricin. A third test from a local lab confirmed the results, Suey said."

In addition to the lab, the 92nd team has the really cool unit coins that look like poker chips.

Ricin is a relatively easy agent to produce, and a deadly slow acting toxin with no antidote. It doesn't have much use a WMD agent, but has been employed as an assassination tool in the past. And given the easy nature of its production, there is always some dummy out there playing with it.