Letters with a Texas postmark containing a white powdery substance have been sent to governors of eight states since Monday, the FBI said today.
The latest flurry of letters is a second batch sent from the state. In October, letters containing a powder substance were sent to 10 Chase banks in Colorado, several in Oklahoma and New Jersey and to the Chase credit card center in Elgin, Ill. The letters were sent from Amarillo, Texas.
Robert E. Casey, special agent in charge of the Dallas FBI office, said governors in Rhode Island, Michigan, Mississippi, Alabama, Minnesota, Montana, Missouri and Alaska have received the letters containing the substance.
All the letters sent to the governors were postmarked in Dallas in north-central Texas. Amarillo, where the letters plus threatening notes were sent to the Chase banks in the Denver area, is in the Texas panhandle.
Initial field tests on the substance sent to the governors have indicated it is not harmful.
A total of more than 30 threatening letters mailed from Amarillo, Texas, were sent to the Chase banks and other financial institutions in eight states in October.
FBI agent Mark White, spokesman for the FBI office in Dallas, said in October that in addition to the Chase Banks, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in Dallas and the U.S. Office of Thrift Supervision in nearby Irving, Texas, also received threatening letters and a white powdery substance.
White said today the white powdery substance sent to the governors has been forwarded to local laboratories for further testing.
White said anyone with information concerning the letters should contact their local FBI office or the Dallas FBI at 972-559-5000.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
