Three Charged in Anthrax Scares

Three people, including a Los Angeles fire captain, have been charged with mailing threatening letters that directly or indirectly raised the specter of an anthrax attack, federal authorities said Friday.

Only one of the letters mentioned anthrax. Investigators said it was written by a scorned lover to a former girlfriend. A white powder in the envelope was found to be flour.

Another letter, containing talcum powder, was sent to Long Beach City Hall with a note that said: “To whom it may concern. Joke.”

Prosecutors said the third threatening letter was mailed by the fire captain to his ex-wife’s divorce lawyer, to whom he was making court-ordered payments. It contained a $100 check, some brown powder and a note saying, “Choke on it.”

Each suspect faces up to five years in prison if convicted.

“Mailing hazardous or threatening material, particularly at this sensitive time, only diverts investigative resources and undermines America’s war on terrorism,” said William V. Hall, chief of the postal inspector’s office in Southern California.

In an ironic twist, Fire Capt. Christopher Antonio Cooper, 43, one of the defendants, served recently with a a crisis intervention team at the World Trade Center in New York. Two weeks ago, he received a commendation for his efforts from the Los Angeles City Council.

Lawyer Denies Intent by Suspect

Cooper’s lawyer, James E. Blancarte, accused the U.S. attorney’s office of “shameful” overreaching by trying to link his client to the wave of anthrax threats. Also, he said, “the law requires a showing of specific intent to harm someone. That simply didn’t occur here.”

The person charged with making a direct anthrax threat was identified as Jacob de la Fuente, 37, of Monterey Park. He was declared a fugitive Friday after eluding authorities for the past week.

Prosecutors said his letter tore as it was going through a sorting machine at a U.S. Postal Service processing center in the city of Industry on Oct. 17.

An employee who went to retrieve the letter noticed white powder spilling out and notified superiors.

The facility was evacuated for six hours until the powder was found to be harmless, but the closure cost the Postal Service a loss of 1,400 worker hours, or $36,550.

The threatening letter contained no return address. But the Rosemead woman for whom it was intended told postal inspectors she suspected it was from de la Fuente, a former boyfriend. She said he had been making threats against her since they broke up more than five years ago.

Inspectors interviewed de la Fuente the next day at his home where, according to a government affidavit, he admitted sending the letter and told them it contained flour. When they returned with an arrest warrant, he was gone.

Justo Saldana, 32, accused of sending a threatening letter to Long Beach City Hall, was arrested Friday morning. According to a criminal complaint, Saldana put talcum powder in the envelope, wrote a phony return address on it and mailed it to the city of Long Beach.

When a city worker opened the envelope Oct. 18, the contents spilled onto her hands and desk. Fearing an anthrax attack, officials shut down City Hall for nearly a day while the substance was analyzed.

Long Beach police interviewed the man whose name appeared on the return address, who led them to Saldana.

According to a government affidavit, Saldana said he did it as a “joke” and that he “wanted to get the person named in the return address in trouble.”

Saldana, who lives in Long Beach, is being held at the federal Metropolitan Detention Center pending a bail hearing Tuesday.

Similar Incidents in Past Reported

Capt. Cooper, who lives in Encino, was released on bail late Friday after a hearing before a federal magistrate in Los Angeles.

Cooper, according to a criminal complaint filed Friday, was under court order to pay $2,500 of the legal expenses incurred by his ex-wife during the couple’s divorce. He was required to make monthly payments of $100 to Yolanda Garza, a lawyer in San Bernardino.

On Oct. 11, the complaint said, a law firm employee opened a letter from Cooper containing a $100 check and brown powder. Written on the memo line were the words “Choke on it.”

Garza told investigators that in August 2000 Cooper sent her office a letter containing dirt, and a few months later he sent one bearing what appeared to be moldy cheese and white flakes.

Cooper has been with the department for 15 years in a variety of jobs, including as a specialist in urban search and rescue operations. In New York, he spent 10 days helping firefighters deal with stress.