3 L.A. Men Accused in Anthrax Hoax

Three Southern California men, one of them a Los Angeles city fire captain, have been charged in separate cases with sending threatening anthrax hoax letters over the last three weeks, authorities said Friday.

Two of the men have been taken into custody while a third, 37-year-old Jacob de la Fuente, fled after he was questioned by federal authorities and is considered a fugitive, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office said in a statement.

“Any threat to use a weapon of mass destruction is an attack on the individual victim, and in this time of heightened security, the nation as a whole,” John Gordon, U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, said. “Threats of terrorism sap valuable law enforcement resources and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Spokesman Thom Mrozek said De la Fuente is charged with sending on Oct. 17 an envelope containing a white powder to his ex-girlfriend.

That letter forced the evacuation of a post office in Industry after the envelope tore in a mail processing machine and the powder spilled, Mrozek said.

Mrozek said De la Fuente’s girlfriend, to whom the letter was addressed, told authorities that he had threatened her repeatedly in the 5 1/2 years since their relationship ended.

De la Fuente confessed to sending the letter, filled with baking flour, when he was questioned by postal inspectors, but fled before they could arrest him, Mrozek said.

In a second case, 32-year-old Justo Saldana was arrested and accused of mailing a envelope containing talcum powder to Long Beach on Oct. 18, forcing officials to shut down City Hall for the day.

Mrozek said a letter inside the envelope, written in Spanish, said: “To whom it may concern. Joke!”

Under questioning by police, Mrozek said, Saldana admitted sending the letter, with another man’s residence listed as the return address, in an attempt to get that man in trouble.

In the third case, Los Angeles City Fire Capt. Christopher Antonio Cooper was charged with sending a court-ordered payment inscribed “choke on it” to his ex-wife’s divorce attorney in an envelope containing brown powder.

Mrozek said Cooper, 44, turned himself in to authorities after learning that he was being sought in the case.

All three men were charged with mailing a threatening communication and face a maximum sentence of five years in prison if convicted.