Anthrax Hoax Forces 3-Hour School Closure

An anthrax threat at an Anaheim high school Monday prompted a quarantine of students and campus employees for almost three hours before it was determined to be a hoax, authorities said.

Police said they suspect that a student called in the threat, which was the latest in a series of such incidents recently across Southern California but the first in Orange County.

Twenty students and about 100 faculty members and bus drivers were inside Gilbert-East High, a continuation school, when the call was received about noon, said Robyn Butler, a spokeswoman for the Anaheim Fire Department.

Authorities said a man called the campus several times to report that biotoxin anthrax spores had been released inside the building’s ventilation system. Anaheim Police Sgt. Joe Vargas said one of the calls came in while officers were at the scene.

The caller “did sound young, and we’ll be looking at whether he is a student,” Vargas said. “We want to get across that this is a serious offense, and the person doing this is looking at serious jail time. We treat this as if it was a bomb scare.”

Vargas said police and the Fire Department’s hazardous materials team cordoned off the area and conducted a threat assessment. It did not take long for authorities to determine that “the threat lacked credibility,” he said.