Courthouses Evacuated in Latest Anthrax Hoax

In the fourth such incident in the Los Angeles area in a week Superior and Municipal court buildings were evacuated Monday because of an anthrax terrorism hoax.

FBI spokeswoman Laura Bosley said an unidentified caller phoned 911 shortly after 11 a.m., declaring to an operator that “anthrax has been released in the Van Nuys courthouse.”

Anthrax disease spores, which can be fatal if inhaled, can be so easily propagated that the bacteria has frequently been studied as a possible biological warfare agent.

Sheriff’s deputies and fire officials evacuated as many as 2,000 people from the court buildings, bringing court business to a halt and leaving many to mill around outside for hours in chilly temperatures. The evacuees were held outside the courthouse while health officials and FBI agents searched the building and gathered air samples for testing.

About 4 p.m., officials released the evacuees. But just in case the threat was genuine, officials instructed them to go home, avoid contact with relatives and pets, seal their clothes in plastic bags, take showers and watch for flu-like symptoms.

Presiding Superior Court Judge Robert W. Parkin declared a court emergency, closing the Van Nuys courts until Wednesday to ensure that the buildings are safe. Today, he said, court clerks will be redeployed to the San Fernando and other courthouses to handle any urgent matters.

On Friday, about 100 people were quarantined for eight hours and given antibiotics when an anonymous caller told a court clerk that anthrax had been released into the air-conditioning system at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court building in Woodland Hills.

Other such threats over the past week resulted in the evacuation and decontamination of workers at a 21-story office building in Westwood Village and a school district office in Riverside County.