Warrant: FBI looking for ricin in Oshkosh

OSHKOSH - Last Friday police and the FBI said they found hazardous materials in an Oshkosh home on the 800 block of Fredrick Street.A search warrant obtained by FOX 11 shows the crews were looking for a deadly poison, called ricin.Police arrested the 21-year-old Oshkosh man who lives at the home. That man is still in the Winnebago County Jail.The search warrant also shows the man is a student at UW-Oshkosh.The warrant goes on to say two professors contacted police about the student.On Monday, the crime tape surrounding the home where police say they found hazardous material is gone.All that’s left is an orange sticker on the door from the Winnebago County Health Department.On Friday police and the FBI searched the home.“When we went inside the residence, we located the hazardous materials,” said Joseph Nichols with the Oshkosh Police Department.A search warrant says officials found a white powder substance inside.A spokesperson with the FBI tells FOX 11 evidence was sent to the agency’s lab in Quantico, Virginia.According to the search warrant, on Wednesday, October 29, the 21-year old student asked UW-Oshkosh professor Terri Gohmann about making extractions from seeds.The warrant states, when Gohmann referred the student to a biology professor, the student said, "...they’re all interested in life and I’m interested in, like, ending it".The document says that same day, biology professor Stephen Bentivenga also spoke with the student.During their meeting Bentivenga said the student talked about making a ribosomal-inhibiting protein.The search warrant says Bentivenga was immediately concerned because he knows the protein can be a potentially deadly poison.When Bentivenga asked more questions, the student responded by saying he couldn’t say much because what he was doing was "borderline illegal" and would fall under the classification of a "biological weapon".The document also says a detective spoke with the suspect’s roommate on October 31.The roommate told police three castor bean plants were growing in the backyard.According to the search warrant, no plants were recovered.Owning the plants is not illegal but the toxin ricin can be extracted from the plant’s seeds.FOX 11 spoke with the district attorney's office on Monday and it's still unclear when the 21-year-old student will be in court.