Man Admits Making Cyanide Extortion Threats to Wal-Mart Store
June 25, 2008 by national
Filed under Stories of Interest
A man accused of trying to extract $200,000 from a Kansas City retailer by threatening to poison its food products pleaded guilty today in federal court.
Hugh L. Riley, 34, was a Missouri prison inmate in October 2006 when he sent a letter to a south Kansas City Wal-Mart demanding money, according to federal court records. Prosecutors contended that Riley threatened “to injure Wal-Mart customers by lacing edibles … with cyanide.”
According to a preliminary estimate in his plea agreement, Riley faces a sentence of about five years in federal prison.
