'If she dies I'm okay with it': Man tries to hire pizza delivery driver to poison his pregnant girlfriend with ricin

An Oklahoma man stands accused of trying to poison his pregnant girlfriend with deadly ricin after taking the idea from an award-winning television show. Preston Rhoads, 30, of Oklahoma City, is behind bars without bail after trying to convince a friend to act as a pizza delivery driver to poison the unnamed woman – he refused and instead turned Rhoads into the police. Rhoads told the friend he extracted the toxic substance from castor beans after downloading a poison manual from the internet, an affidavit cited by News 9said. The man told police he got the idea from ‘Breaking Bad.’ Federal documents showed that Rhoads asked a friend about the show just before showing him the vial, News 9 reported. The former co-worker agreed to meet April 9, and Rhoads revealed that he wanted the other individual to use the poison to kill the unborn fetus, authorities said, according to The Oklahoman. He then handed the unidentified would-be accomplice a vial of ricin, authorities said. ‘Rhoads stated that if the girlfriend were to die in the process, Rhoades is okay with the result,’ the affidavit said, according to the paper. He asked the soon-to-be stool pigeon to sprinkle the poison into a soda and on a pizza pie while pretending to be the deliveryman, records showed, according to the paper. The friend decided against the idea and instead contacted police. Rhoads’ home was raided April 17 by agents wearing hazmat suits. The use of ricin, considered a biological weapon, is what prompted the FBI to join state and local officials in the investigation, according to News 9. Symptoms of ricin poisoning include trouble breathing, coughing, nausea, fever, seizures and vomiting – there is no known antidote. He is currently charged with two counts of solicitation of murder, it is not clear if more charges will be filed.