Chamberlain gets plea deal; will serve 2.5 years in prison

SAN FRANCISCO (KTV - The man accused of possessing deadly toxins and bomb materials was sentenced in a San Francisco courtroom on Wednesday to two and a half years in prison and 12 years’ probation.

Ryan Chamberlain told the judge he was no threat or danger to anyone else but himself.

Wearing a red jumpsuit, Chamberlain, 44, spoke briefly where he told the court, “The entire situation is a situation of depression. Never was there a threat to the community or any human being.  It was all internal. It was all internal about me and not about anybody else.”

Chamberlain was sentenced for having a biological toxin and a gun with the serial number scratched off.

Federal agents stormed his Russian Hill home in May 2014 and found what they said were the makings of a bomb and possible biological weapon.

The search came after FBI agents spoke briefly to him at a coffee shop near his apartment. He was allowed to leave, but agents who were surveilling him lost him in traffic after he drove at high speed and failed to stop at traffic lights.

Several days later, he was arrested in dramatic fashion near Crissy Field in San Francisco.

Prosecutors said they found abrin, a lethal toxin, sodium cyanide, a chemical weapon, and materials to make ricin, another toxin in his apartment. As part of a plea agreement, he pleaded guilty to only possessing the abrin, which he got from black market reloaded, a site on the so-called dark web. He also admitted to having a 22-caliber derringer pistol with its serial number removed. 

Attorneys in the case declined to comment, but in court papers, his public defenders said their client had been suicidal. They said the sentence is fair and that he's had enough time to "reflect upon the stupidity of his acts".

Chamberlain was supposed to have been sentenced last week, but the judge said three years of supervised release, or federal probation, wasn't enough.