Citing the stress placed on law enforcement and emergency response teams, Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller announced this week they will prosecute and punish “with the full force of our laws” those people who issue false anthrax or other terrorist threats.
“We’ve got people working 12 hour shifts,” said Memphis FBI spokesman George Bolds. “If (terrorist pranks) were ever funny, they certainly are not funny at this time and in this situation.”
According to the FBI website, the agency has responded to more than 2,300 incidents involving anthrax or other threats since Oct. 1.
Ashcroft announced Wednesday that a Connecticut man has been charged with making false statements to federal agents in connection with an anthrax hoax. The man could face a maximum sentence of up to five years in prison with a fine of up to $3 million.
“It’s a criminal act to use the mail to send a threat,” Bolds said. “At this time, sending a white substance through the mail could constitute a threat.” Bolds added that making threats, whether over the phone or via the Internet, is a federal infraction as well.
After a government office building was evacuated in Nashville, Gov. Don Sundquist authorized a $10,000 reward for anyone who provides information that leads to the arrest and conviction of any person or persons making threats.
“I am outraged that during this time, when we stand united as Americans against terrorism, there are people who are preying on our most basic fears,” Sundquist said in a statement released by his office. “I urge Tennesseans to speak up and help us find those offenders.”
As well as placing extra burdens on law enforcement and public health agencies, Ashcroft said such threats create “illegitimate alarm in a time of legitimate concern.”
“It is right to punish them because not only is there a tremendous waste of resources in trying to address the situation, there is also a tremendous sense of a loss of security for the people of the country as a result of this,” said U of M staff attorney Sheryl Lipman. “It’s just frightening.”
Carter Myers, of the district attorney general’s office, said his office could prosecute individuals for filing false reports — a crime which carries a penalty of up to two years in prison. Myers said no one has been turned over to his office for making false reports or terrorist threats, but he indicated that individuals who perpetrate these hoaxes would likely be prosecuted under federal statutes, which carry harsher penalties.
Alleged hoaxers have been arrested in Littleton, Colo.; Lake Havasu, Ariz. and just down the road in Oxford, Miss.
Bruce Harber, interim director of Public Safety at The University of Memphis, said his office has handled six “suspicious substance” calls at The University. Harber said samples are taken by a hazardous materials crew and turned over to FBI, then sent to a lab in Jackson for analysis.
Harber said the test results have not yet returned, but the Public Safety Department responds to each call as if it was a real threat, which makes false threats all the more disturbing.
“It’s taking us away from other things we could and should be doing,” Harber said.
In a memo sent out to University students, faculty and staff Thursday, Raymond Pipkin, interim vice president for Business and Finance, said, “Preliminary investigations indicate that recent incidents on campus may be hoaxes or the result of pranks; this is a very serious matter and will not be tolerated. The University will vigorously seek prosecution of any individual engaged in such hoax activity on our campus to the fullest extent permitted by law.”
Because of some building evacuations and suspicious substance calls, The University has established a special communications line. Curt Guenther, assistant director of Media Relations, said students can call 678-0888 to check on the “operational status” of The U of M’s classes and buildings.
U of M President Shirley Raines said, in a statement issued on Thursday, that if buildings had to be closed because of an anthrax scare, classes would meet in other buildings temporarily.
