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A package labeled "anthrax" sits on a counter at the photo desk of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on Wednesday. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer newsroom was evacuated briefly Wednesday after an editor opened what appeared to be one of a number of anthrax hoax mailings sent to media outlets around the US. (AP)
Marc M Keyser, 66, sent more than 120 envelopes containing a compact disc that had a packet of sugar labeled “Anthrax Sample” along with a biohazard symbol, the FBI said in a news release. The CD was titled “Anthrax: Shock & Awe Terror.”
Keyser was taken into custody without incident at his home in Sacramento on three counts of sending a hoax letter, the FBI said. At least some of the packages had Keyser’s return address on them, said FBI agent Steve Dupre.
Keyser is being held at the Sacramento County jail and is expected to make his first court appearance Thursday. It wasn’t known on Wednesday evening whether he had a lawyer.
None of the packets has so far tested positive for hazardous material, the agency said. Authorities did not say what was on the CD.
More mailings will probably be received over the next few days; recipients should contact their local FBI office, Dupre said.
The investigation began after The Atlantic magazine received a letter on Monday, Dupre said. The Charlotte Observer newspaper in North Carolina received an envelope on Tuesday.
Letters were received on Wednesday by two Sacramento television stations, the San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper and the office of Republican Congressman George Radanovich in Modesto. A McDonald’s restaurant in Sacramento also received a package.
Radanovich’s office was evacuated early Wednesday after a staffer opened the mailing. Some employees went to a hospital for precautionary examinations and were released with a clean bill of health.
Radanovich spokesman Spencer Pederson said the congressman was at a meeting in Fresno when the package was opened. Pederson said later Wednesday that the office had been cleaned as if the substance were anthrax.
One entrance to the Union-Tribune was closed for part of the afternoon after a large envelope labeled “anthrax” was opened in the newsroom.
Members of a hazardous materials team, all wearing full protective suits, went into the building to test the package. The Associated Press office in San Diego is also in the building but did not receive a threatening mailing.
Dupre said the arrest is not connected to another series of bogus mailings containing a white powder that were sent to financial institutions and announced by the FBI last week.
Anthrax mailed to congressional offices and others in 2001 killed five people and sickened 17.
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