Members of a hazardous materials crew head into Extended Stay America hotel after a suspicious substance was found at the hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada Feb. 28, 2008. Presumptive tests showed the substance to be ricin, said a spokesman from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. Ricin is a toxin that can be made from the waste left over from processing castor beans. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    BEIJING, March 4 (Xinhuanet) -- The hospitalized man found unconscious in a Las Vegas, Nevada, motel room who may have been sickened by the toxin ricin was an introvert who loved animals and moved around a lot, former neighbors said Monday.

    Roger Von Bergendorff, who remains in a coma at Spring Valley Hospital, also has had financial problems, filing for bankruptcy in 2000.

    Authorities believe they recovered all the ricin in several vials found last week from the motel near the Las Vegas strip where Von Bergendorff had stayed. But they also checked a home in Riverton where Von Bergendorff had lived with a cousin, Thomas Tholen, as well as three storage containers linked to Von Bergendorff.

    The FBI said the searches yielded no health threats. Tholen declined to comment Monday when reached by telephone. He said he had not spoken with investigators. Las Vegas police said that firearms, an "anarchist-type textbook" and castor beans were found in the motel room. The book was tabbed at a spot containing information about ricin.

    Public records show Von Bergendorff, 57, used at least six addresses between 1983 and 2007 in cities in Utah and California.

    He had lived in Riverton for more than a year before moving to Las Vegas about a year ago, said former neighbor Tammy Ewell. He spent the last three months in a camper belonging to a neighbor, John Walster.

    Ewell described Von Bergendorff Monday as an introverted man who wore down his hosts by living rent-free and taking advantage of their hospitality.

    She said Von Bergendorff wasn't social with neighbors and often didn't return a friendly wave. But while Von Bergendorff could be awkward around people, he loved animals, she said. She said he returned to Utah several times after he moved to Las Vegas to search for a lost cat.

    (Agencies)