FBI agents flocked in and raided the house of 91-year old grandmother who allegedly sells suicide kits for $60 each by mail order. The agents seized her computers, cartons upon cartons of documents, and sewing machines. Apparently, the suicide kits are DIY asphyxiation kits.
Sharlotte Hydorn said that around 12 agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and US Postal Inspection Service went to her house on Wednesday with their guns drawn and ordered her to go outside or else she will be shot. They, then, presented her with a search warrant that is 37 pages thick and proceeded to search her house from top to bottom for almost 11 hours.
Hydorn also said that the agents left 46 pages of the list of all items that have been confiscated from her house. The list includes all her property rental and tax documents, computer, and her sewing machines. She added that the agents took away all her spread sheets and sewing threads.
A copy of the search warrant indicated that Hydorn is under investigation for several cases such as wire fraud, mail fraud, tax evasion, and selling misbranded medical device.
Postal Inspection Service and FBI officials in California confirmed that several of their agents conducted a search in Hydorn’s home but refused to comment further on the incident. Renee Focht, a postal inspector, said that the search is in line with a criminal matter which is still under investigation.
Hydorn attracted public attention when a young man from Oregon used her kit to kill himself. Her suicide kit or “exit kit” includes a plastic hood which closes snugly around the neck and tubing that has to be connected to a tank of inert gas.
The Chief Executive Officer of Philip Morris International, one of the leading makers of cigarettes, told a nurse working with cancer patients on Wednesday that although cigarette smoking is addictive, it is not that hard to quit.
