A day after an envelope containing mysterious capsules caused a biological weapons scare at a south Denver bank, envelopes containing threatening letters and white powder resulted in the evacuation today afternoon of two state offices in downtown.
The Denver fire department’s hazardous materials unit was able to determine that the letters sent to a state building at 1313 Sherman St. and state offices on the 27th floor of the World Trade Center building on the 16th Street Mall contained sugar and a sugar substitute.
Also, lab tests on the white and yellow capsules found in the mail at UMB Bank in the 6900 block of East Hampden turned out to be vitamins, Fire department spokesman Lt. Phil Champagne said.
Authorities don’t believe the letters sent today and the letter to UMB Bank uncovered on Sunday are connected. But the two letters opened today came with threatening letters with similar wording, Champagne said.
“The wording was life-threatening,” Champagne said. “While they were relatively similar, they didn’t have the same exact wording.”
About 300 state workers were evacuated for about an hour from the Centennial Building on Sherman Street just after 1 p.m., where four people, including a state patrol officer, were exposed to the white powder, Champagne said. The letter was sent to the Geological Survey office on the 7th floor, he said.
At virtually the same time only a few blocks away, the trade center’s 27th floor and floors above and below were evacuated when two workers were exposed to the envelopes, Champagne said. The state offices on that floor include the offices of international trade and minority business, according to the building’s directory.
“Well it totally disrupted the day for me, now I have to go back and play catch-up with all the work we needed to get done,” said Mike Boulay, who works in the state’s division of reclamation, mining and safety.
The FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service will investigate the letters.
“It’s extremely rare for this to happen, and the fact that we’ve had two in the last couple of days is very rare,” U.S. Postal Inspector Andrew Rivas said.
Similar cases in the past have resulted in federal felony charges of mail fraud and threat by mail, punishable by up to five years incarceration, Rivas said.
Denver’s mail processing center has a sophisticated anthrax and bio-agent screening system and has not found one biological agent in the two years it’s been in place, Rivas said.
“Even if it turns out to be a hoax, it’s better to have it checked out than to take any chances,” he said.
Staff writer Manny Gonzales can be reached at 303-954-1537 or mgonzales@denverpost.com
