Election Section
Man gets two years for mailing fake anthrax
Letters threatening anthrax contained Victoria’s Secret talcum powder
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge delivered a two-year prison sentence Thursday to a 21-year-old San Bernardino man who mailed fake anthrax letters last fall.
Two of the three letters that Antonio M. Flores sent to people in Eureka, Arcata and Kneeland contained Victoria’s Secret talcum powder, not anthrax, as the letters threatened.
Flores sent the three letters Oct. 25, as the country was in the grips of the anthrax mail scare. All envelopes had “anthrax” written on them and contained a powdery substance, which Flores admitted was talcum powder or powder from tetracycline antibiotic capsules, according to court documents.
He said he sent two of the letters to people he stole from and the third as a favor to someone he met in jail who wanted to threaten the man who revealed him to authorities.
Flores had pleaded guilty to three counts of mailing threatening communications and was sentenced Thursday in federal court in San Francisco.
