Woman charged after explosive packages mailed to Barack Obama

  • 24/11/2017
"Poff presents a real safety risk to witnesses and others in the community."
"Poff presents a real safety risk to witnesses and others in the community." Photo credit: DPS

A Houston woman has been charged with mailing booby-trapped packages designed to explode to former US President Barack Obama, Texas Governor Greg Abbott and a federal office in Maryland.

Julia Poff, 46, was ordered held in jail last week ahead of trial after she was indicted on charges of mailing packages last year that were designed to kill, transporting explosives and other criminal counts, court documents showed.

"Poff presents a real safety risk to witnesses and others in the community," US Magistrate Judge Frances Stacy wrote in a five-page order outlining the case.

Poff, who was charged earlier this month and pleaded not guilty last week, reached out to the Houston Chronicle to defend herself, the newspaper reported on its website on Thursday.

An explosive-laden package mailed to Mr Obama in October 2016, while he was still in office, contained hair that an FBI crime lab matched to one of Poff's cats, the judge wrote in the detention order.

Poff is said to have expressed dislike for Mr Obama, according to the order. Packages sent to Mr Obama and the US Social Security Administration in Maryland were both stopped in screening, according to Houston TV station KPRC.

In October 2016, Abbott, the Republican governor of Texas, opened a third package that also was rigged to explode, but it failed to detonate.

Reuters