Kansas City, Mo ? An Independence man with a history of mental problems has pleaded innocent to possessing a chemical weapon — cyanide.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert E. Larsen said Tuesday he would reconsider bond after Hessam S. “Sam” Ghane, 53, returned from a court-ordered mental evaluation.

Ghane, a naturalized citizen from Iran, has no ties to any terrorist organization, an FBI agent testified Tuesday.

Psychiatrist Howard Houghton testified that Ghane had suffered from such mental conditions as suicidal depression and paranoia.

Houghton said he called police in February after Ghane threatened government groups and unnamed individuals. After making the threats, Houghton said, Ghane said: “You know I have access to chemicals and I know chemistry.”

An indictment unsealed on Friday accuses Ghane of possessing 177 grams of 75 percent pure potassium cyanide. U.S. Atty. Todd Graves said he believed hundreds of people could have been harmed if the cyanide were “structured properly.”

The cyanide can be fatal if swallowed, inhaled or absorbed through the skin. Ghane was charged under a law listing potassium cyanide among substances prohibited under the international Chemical Weapons Convention.

Ghane is a chemist who was employed with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers until 1993. According to court records, the corps fired him after his former girlfriend called his workplace and said he had threatened a co-worker and said he would blow up a federal office building.

Ghane also taught chemistry at Maple Woods Community College in Kansas City, Mo., in 1996 and 1997.