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Woman pleads guilty to possessing dangerous toxin after boyfriend’s death in Virginia Beach

Posted at 3:42 PM, Sep 18, 2018
and last updated 2018-09-18 15:44:19-04

Debbie Siers-Hill

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – The woman charged with possessing a toxin after her boyfriend’s 2016 death pleaded guilty to unregistered possession of ricin on Tuesday.

Ricin is a highly dangerous toxin and according to court documents Virginia Beach police officers executed a search warrant in March 2016 in which they found a number of chemicals, packages of castor beans and multiple firearms, one with an obliterated serial number, in a storage unit rented by Debbie Siers-Hill.

63-year-old Siers-Hill is a South Carolina woman who was living in Virginia Beach when her boyfriend, Fred Brooks died.

Court documents said tests of the chemicals showed that a syringe and a double-wrapped container found in the storage unit held ricin, a toxin derived from castor beans with no known antidote.

Siers-Hill pleaded guilty to possessing ricin, a listed “select agent” subject to Department of Health and Human Services registration requirements with which she did not comply.

She previously denied the allegations and has not been charged in her boyfriend’s death. She faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison when sentenced on January 14, 2019.

Full coverage: Siers-Hill