A man has been arrested in connection with several letters containing a white substance that were sent to congressmembers.
It didn’t take authorities long to track down Matthew Unglesbee, who is facing charges of false information and hoaxes, and mailing threatening communications in Illinois. After all, the four letters bore his name and return address, which he allegedly says he was inspired to do after seeing prior coverage of other suspicious mail sent to officials. According to NBC News, Unglesbee denied having any connection to the previous envelopes and said the granular substance was “salt,” which he admits “kind of looks like” anthrax.
Three of the letters reportedly read “HA HA” while a fourth read “HAH enjoy the gift.” A fifth, unsent letter that was addressed to another member of Congress was found during a search of the man’s apartment.
Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., whose office received not one but two suspicious envelopes, released a statement following the man’s arrest.
“I’m aware of reports that a suspect has been taken into custody in connection with the most recent suspicious letter sent to my Skokie office. I will not let threats stand in the way of serving the people of the 9th District. My community relies on the services our office provides, and my team and I will continue doing the work I was elected to do,” the statement reads.
“The case began after an anonymous online tipster told the FBI that they overheard Unglesbee talking about mailing a suspicious substance to members of Congress. The tip was received on Oct. 16, and the FBI responded when the letters showed up at the offices of members of Congress three days later,” NBC News reported.
As BizPac Review previously reported, at least 36 lawmakers and election offices in at least ten states have reported receiving mysterious letters with white powder and other substances.
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes explained that while the powder sent to the election office in his state had tested negative for toxicity, it is still harmful in its own way.
“The substance that was collected had gone through labs last night, initially just to check toxicity. That came back negative,” Fontes told CNN. “I don’t have any specific information as to what the substance actually is, but it is not harmful to human beings at this time. The distraction of elections officials during this very, very busy time, and the intimidation of — potential intimidation — of voters is harm. That is harm to our democracy, that is harm to our election systems that we want to run smoothly without intimidation.”
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Sierra Marlee is a millennial whose hunger for the truth in a world of fake news has led her to write. Marlee also contributes to BizPac Review.
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