Catching up on a couple of stories we’ve been following here at Simple Tricks, I see that dog cloner Bernann McKinney admitted on Saturday that she is also Joyce McKinney, the notorious missionary molester. She reportedly hoped the press would focus on the puppy angle instead of dredging up the “garbage” from her past. She should’ve known better, given the tabloid-mentality climate in which we live today. I actually feel somewhat sorry for her — how awful would it be to have some stupid act you committed three decades ago still hanging over your head now? — but my sympathy only extends so far, because if she really wanted the news coverage to ignore her past, she should’ve taken steps to remain anonymous. How hard would it have been to require the cloning lab to keep her name and most especially her photo out of the press release? Because people don’t forget stories that involve a combination of sex, religion, and generally weird behavior, and, in her case, the face was pretty memorable as well. I’d say she’s lucky that Great Britain doesn’t seem to be interested in extraditing her (she jumped bail 31 years ago in the wake of the missionary thing).

Of course, there is the possibility that her discomfort at being recognized is a sham. The article I linked to above notes a history of oddball behavior and run-ins with the law. Maybe some little part of her — or maybe even a big part — craves attention, even if it is from the tabloid press. Maybe she was hoping for exactly what just happened. Hard to say, of course… but in any event, I imagine the former missionary she used to be obsessed with has had a rough week.

Moving on, there’s just one final loose end in the story of the man who was making ricin in my hometown: Thomas Tholen, owner of the Riverton, Utah, home where the toxin was produced, has pleaded guilty to knowing that his cousin, Roger Von Bergendorff, was illegally producing the stuff, and also to lying to investigators about it. He claims to have been scared, and frankly I don’t blame him. Still, he made the wrong choice; I can see him not acting while the looney was living in his basement, but why didn’t he report Von Bergendorff once the guy moved out?

Tholen faces three years in prison and a $250,000 fine; he’ll be sentenced on October 22. Von Bergendorff will be sentenced two weeks later, on November 3.