Anthrax hoaxes bring charges

WASHINGTON -- Assailing recent anthrax hoaxes as "no joking matter," Attorney General John Ashcroft said Tuesday those who perpetrate anthrax or other terrorist scares will be prosecuted.

With the FBI chasing down thousands of reports of possible anthrax exposures -- most turn out to be false alarms or practical jokes -- Ashcroft said such scares are unlawful and "gross transgressions of the public trust."

"They create illegitimate alarm in a time of legitimate concern," said Ashcroft.

The warning came as suspicious letters, unmarked packages and nonstop hoaxes have spread anthrax anxiety around the globe. No anthrax cases have been confirmed outside the United States.

With FBI Director Robert Mueller at his side, Ashcroft said a rash of hoaxes across the country have taxed the resources of an already burdened law enforcement system.

An FBI warning last week about possible terrorist attacks within the next few days is still in effect, so authorities cannot afford to be diverted by phony scares.

"The threat of bioterrorism is no joking matter," the attorney general said.

He detailed the prosecution of a Connecticut state employee who sat by quietly as a state agency building was evacuated for what the man allegedly knew to be a false threat involving white powder.

It is a federal crime to threaten to use biological agents or toxins to harm people.

Joseph A. Faryniarz, an employee of Connecticut's environmental agency, told agency security guards Oct. 11 that he found a powdery substance on a paper towel under some paperwork near his computer.

Security officials alerted the police and all 800 agency employees were evacuated. Twelve employees were forced to disrobe and be washed down with a decontamination solution, Ashcroft said.

Faryniarz told FBI agents he thought two colleagues might be involved but later acknowledged that he lied and said he knew the incident was a hoax even before the FBI arrived because another individual not named in the complaint had claimed responsibility. The two-day evacuation of the building cost taxpayers $1.5 million, Ashcroft said.

Faryniarz was charged with making false statements to FBI agents; he was not charged with perpetrating the hoax. He could face a maximum of up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $3 million -- twice the loss incurred as a result of the scare.

Others face state or federal charges in connection with hoaxes around the country:

A Cincinnati man who said he left an envelope containing a white powder on his boss's desk as a practical joke has been charged with inducing panic.

Police in Fairfield, Conn., traced a call threatening biological attacks against several courthouses to Fred Forcellina, who was charged with threatening to use a weapon of mass destruction against people.

A Colorado man accused of leaving an envelope of white powder for co-workers at an apartment complex was arrested Monday after he said he did it as a joke. The powder was laundry detergent, police said.

False alarms elsewhere

Fears of anthrax contamination have also produced false alarms in other countries.

An Israeli newspaper executive opened an envelope Tuesday filled with white powder and a note reading, "Regards from Afghanistan." In Australia, anthrax jitters emptied buildings nationwide and prompted calls for a crackdown on hoaxers. In South Korea, postal workers wore gas masks and gloves to handle international letters.

In the United States, the FBI has received more than 2,300 reports of incidents or suspected incidents involving anthrax since Oct. 1. Most of them have been false alarms or practical jokes, said FBI Director Robert Mueller.

But agents treat every report as potentially the real thing, he said.

"We have no choice but to assume that each reported instance is an actual biothreat," said Mueller.

The FBI has not ruled out the possibility that anthrax exposures around the country are the result of terrorism, although no direct link has yet been found to any terror groups, including the suspected hijackers responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks, he said.

Handwriting similarities

But similarities in the handwriting found in letters sent to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle's office and to NBC in New York are being investigated, Mueller said. Tests showing where the anthrax came from are ongoing.

Mueller said the FBI may not have moved fast enough to investigate a suspicious letter sent to NBC in New York that tested negative for anthrax.

"There were missteps at the outset," said Mueller. "We did not, as quickly as we would have liked, analyzed an initial specimen from a letter that turned out to be negative."

He said the problem did not affect the investigation, but added that FBI field offices have been instructed to make sure suspicious materials are analyzed promptly.

Separately, new details emerged that two suspected hijackers were in New York three days before the Sept. 11 attacks. Mohamed Atta, suspected of piloting a hijacked jetliner that crashed into one of the World Trade Center towers, and Marwan Al-Shehhi, who piloted a second hijacked jet into the other tower, met at a bar at the Helmsley Hotel in Manhattan, a law enforcement official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. They sat with two other men and stayed for several hours.