Texas actress sentenced to 18 years for ricin-laced letter to Obama

TEXARKANA Texas (Reuters) - A Texas actress was sentenced to 18 years in a federal prison on Wednesday for mailing the toxic agent ricin in letters to President Barack Obama, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and a gun control advocate.

Shannon Guess Richardson whose career included minor television roles in shows such as "The Walking Dead," also will be subject to five years of supervised release and restitution of $376,000.

Richardson, shackled and dressed in a brown uniform of an inmate, apologized at a federal court in Texarkana, Texas to Obama, Bloomberg and the advocate.

"I never intended to hurt anyone," she said.

(Reporting by Lisa Bose McDermott; Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Bill Trott)