ALL SHOOK UP:
Paul Kevin Curtis, as Elvis and above, allegedly mailed toxic letters to the president and a senator that he signed KC.
ALL SHOOK UP: Paul Kevin Curtis, as Elvis and inset, allegedly mailed toxic letters to the president and a senator that he signed KC (far right). (
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WASHINGTON — The troubled Mississippi Elvis impersonator arrested yesterday for allegedly sending a poison-laced letter to President Obama has officially been charged with threatening the President and two other officials.
The U.S. Department of Justice said in a news release today that Paul Kevin Curtis faced two federal charges and could face up to 15 years in prison. He was due in court later on Thursday.
Curtis was nabbed at his apartment in Corinth, Miss., at 6 p.m. after the poisoned letters discovered this week were traced back to him, sources told The Post.
Curtis, 45, dresses up as the King and other stars such as Jon Bon Jovi and Prince to entertain at parties and benefits.
The letters were signed “I am KC and I approve this message” — the same initials he uses in his stage name.
The musician can be seen performing via YouTube and Facebook, advertising his services dressed as country stars such as Johnny Cash, Hank Williams and Elvis.
He has been arrested numerous times for misdemeanors such as harassment and stalking near Tupelo, Miss., the Clarion-Ledger newspaper reported.
Despite his rock ’n’ roll hobby, Curtis shows his angry side on Facebook, where he lashes out in a conspiracy-filled rant.
“I’m on the hidden front lines of a secret war,” he wrote. “They burned down my home, killed my dogs, my cat, my rabbit, blew up my 1966 Plymouth Valiant . . . and guess what? I am still a thorn in their corrupt anals! I will remain here until Jesus Christ decides it’s time for me to go.”
In addition to the Obama letter, a missive containing ricin was mailed to Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and was detected before it reached the Capitol Tuesday.
The letter to Wicker was postmarked April 8, just days before the senator voted to nix a filibuster of the gun-control bill. Curtis was arrested 50 miles from Wicker’s home in Tupelo.
A third letter was sent to a Mississippi judge.
Curtis is “believed to be responsible for the mailings of the three letters sent through the US Postal Inspection Service, which contained a granular substance that preliminarily tested positive for ricin,” the FBI said, providing no other details.
The arrest capped a frantic day on Capitol Hill yesterday amid heightened security after the Boston terror bombings and the the ricin letters.
The letter addressed to Obama containing a “suspicious substance” got picked up Tuesday at an outside facility where White House mail is screened, according to the Secret Service.
Federal scientists are conducting additional tests to confirm the results.
The letters to Obama and Wicker, contained the same cryptic message: “To see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance,” according to an FBI bulletin. They were signed: “I am KC and I approve this message.” – an obvious take on TV political ads. Neither had a return address.
A senior administration source said the situation was a “red alert,” adding: “We are preparing for more.” But another government source noted: “The system worked,” adding, “people are hyped up.”
White House mail, gets screened at a site in DC. Congressional mail gets irradiated, opened, heated, and subjected to multiple screening procedures.
The White House and FBI said there’s no apparent connection to the bombing in Boston, although the feds were looking for any possible link.
“I think it’s related to guns,” former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, who preceded Wicker in the Senate and got death threats on multiple occasions when he served in Congress, told The Post.
“Obama got one from Memphis, and Roger got one from Memphis,” he said, noting that gun control was coming up for a controversial vote.
Wicker was among the Republican senators who voted last week to allow a gun-control bill to come up for debate. He voted against the bill yesterday.
Ricin is one of the most deadly — and easiest to make — of the world’s super poisons.
It is highly toxic, has no known antidote, and can be deadly in tiny amounts. It comes from the leftover waste material the seeds of castor beans are reduced to make castor oil, which when purified becomes a poison so deadly that a speck can be deadly if injected or inhaled.
Suspicious letters also were reported in a Michigan office of Sens. Carl Levin and in the office of Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.). “We don’t know if someone sent them as a hoax or as an effort to scare,” said Flake. He said he was relieved there turned out not to be a threat.
Additional reporting by S.A. Miller and Andy Soltis