FBI searching for evidence of crime in Florida anthrax case

Associated Press WriterBOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) -- The FBI is investigating the possibility that the anthrax bacteria detected in two Florida men is a result of terrorism or criminal action, Attorney General John Ashcroft said Monday.

The bacteria that killed a man last week has been detected in the nose of a co-worker and on a computer keyboard in the newspaper office where both men worked, health officials said.

"We regard this as an investigation that could become a clear criminal investigation, and we are pursuing this with all the dispatch and care that's appropriate," Ashcroft said.

Asked if it was a terrorist-related investigation, he said: "We don't have enough information to know whether this could be related to terrorism or not." He said the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was providing expertise.

In Tallahassee, Lt. Gov. Frank Brogan confirmed to reporters that "the FBI is in control of the investigation."

The FBI sealed off the office building and was combing it for clues. Any workers in the building with flu-like symptoms will be tested for anthrax, officials said.

Bob Stevens, 63, a photo editor at the supermarket tabloid The Sun, died Friday. He was the first person in 25 years in the United States to have died from the form of anthrax that is contracted by inhalation.

Then, officials said Monday that a co-worker of Stevens, whose name was not immediately released, had been discovered to have the bacteria in his nasal passages.

Relatively large anthrax spores that lodge in the upper respiratory tract are less dangerous than smaller spores that get into the lungs.

The man has not been diagnosed with the disease, and Barbara Reynolds, a spokeswoman for the CDC in Atlanta, said authorities may never know whether he actually had anthrax because antibiotics may have killed it before it was detected.

David Pecker, CEO of American Media Inc., said the man worked in the mailroom and had been hospitalized with an unrelated illness. American Media publishes the Sun and other tabloids.

All 300 employees who work in the building housing the Sun tabloid were asked to come to a clinic so they could be tested for the bacteria. CDC officials said nasal swabs would be taken, and antibiotics provided. Anthrax cannot be spread from person to person.