A man from Agawam who was detained for a charge of federal firearms has been accused of threatening to attack a federal building in Springfield using toxin ricin, according to U.S. officials.

Michael A. Crooker, 53, is serving 22 years in prison for transporting a firearm in interstate commerce. He was accused for the mailing of an air rifle and sound muffler.

Crooker was questioned by federal authorities when he made the threats while in custody on July 2004.

According to the indictment, an amount of toxin ricin was found and also castor beans and rosary peas, from which the ricin and toxin abrin are extracted.

Crooker was arrested on June 23, 2004 and according to the sayings of Assistant US Attorney Kevin O'Regan, a pipe-shaped bomb was found in his car which had potassium perchlorate and aluminum powder.

Similar devices were also found in his apartment.

While he was in custody, on July, he sent a mail to a newspaper and to O’Regan saying that he will destroy Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse on Main Street in Springfield using a weapon of mass destruction.

The new charges brought against him are one count of threatening to use a weapon of mass destruction and three counts of possessing toxins for use as a weapon.

If he is found guilty on the new charges he may get a sentence of life imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.

His federal public defender, Timothy G. Watkins, defended Crooker in the case of the firearms and said that he will defend him again.

He said in a statement: "Mr. Crooker is saddened and disappointed that the government is choosing to spend its scarce resources on such a factually and legally weak case as that which was filed against him yesterday in Springfield," Boston.com reports.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons website says that Crooker is now held at the Victorville Federal Correctional Complex, 85 miles northeast of Los Angeles.

When he was arrested in 2004 he said to the federal judge magistrate that he was addicted to heroin, crack cocaine, methadone, alcohol, and tobacco.