Officials Probe Threat to City Manager

The Sheriff’s Department has launched an investigation after City Manager George Scarborough received a Manila envelope in the mail containing a bullet and a threatening note.

More than a half dozen rifle bullets have been mailed to Orange County city officials and real-estate developers involved in projects being built on lands containing Native American bones or artifacts. The Sheriff’s Department would not say if they think the latest incident is related.

San Juan Capistrano Mayor David M. Swerdlin said he also didn’t know if the threat, which Scarborough received Thursday, was related or the work of a “copycat.”

“In any case, I don’t think this is going to intimidate us,” Swerdlin said.

Lt. Ron Wilkerson said Friday that the incident is being investigated as a “terrorist threat.”

Scarborough could not be reached for comment.

In March, Seal Beach Mayor Gwen Forsythe and the city’s planning director received bullets through the mail, as did Jim Velasques, tribal chief of the Coastal Gabrieleno-Dieguenos band of the Mission Indians. Velasques has been a consultant on an excavation in Huntington Beach where homes are being built.

“It’s no longer just a little prank,” Velasques said Friday, referring to the latest incident. “Now it’s frightening. I’m very worried about this.”