EVERETT — An Everett man under investigation for having the deadly toxin ricin now faces felony charges in connection with an attack on his wife.
Federal agents continue to investigate Jeffrey Marble’s connection to the ricin found in his Everett house and in his wife’s urine, according to court documents.
Marble, 48, was charged Friday with first-degree assault with a deadly weapon and first-degree unlawful imprisonment. He is accused of beating his wife with a dumbbell for more than five hours last month.
The woman was able to escape only after the couple’s 16-year-old son came home.
Police began investigating the possibility that the man had ricin in the Everett home after the woman voiced her suspicions that she was being poisoned, according to court documents.
She told police she had been suffering from an undiagnosed illness for the past year. Police later found a small plastic baggy containing about 20 beans of some type.
Ricin is a derivative of castor beans.
When questioned by police, Marble said he had tried to have castor beans shipped to his home. His wife showed officers a letter from the Department of Health in Miami. The letter said officials had intercepted 300 castor beans because they hadn’t been inspected for insects, court documents said.
It’s against federal law to possess or manufacture ricin.
The investigation into the ricin exposure is ongoing, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Valerie Shapiro wrote.
Marble is being held on $2 million bail.
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