5 charged in anthrax hoaxes

Three Michigan autoworkers and two Kentucky college students Thursday faced charges they perpetrated anthrax hoaxes.

The Michigan incident occurred on Oct. 15 and resulted in the shutdown of General Motor's Flint Assembly plant. The Kentucky incident involved two Murray State University students who mailed a powdery substance.

In Philadelphia, six people face charges stemming from an anthrax scare that closed a Home Depot store for five days and in Chicago two people face charges stemming from separate hoax incidents.

Genesee County, Michigan, Prosecutor Arthur Busch filed charges of unlawful release of an imitation harmful substance against Joseph Younce, 43, of Flint; Kathy Lester, 42, of Durand; and Michael Rhyne 46, of Byron. All three are hourly workers at the Flint plant. The charges carry a possible sentence of a year in jail on conviction.

Busch said Younce brought baby powder and an envelope to work and then got Lester to copy Arabic letters onto it. The envelope was placed at Rhyne's workstation and he, in turn, allegedly put the envelope on the windshield of a vehicle as it moved down the assembly line.

The incident touched off a panic at the plant.

"The idea was to scare people," said Busch. "Now is not the time to be scaring people."

GM spokesman Dan Flores said the incident was the second of two anthrax hoaxes at company facilities last week. The other incident occurred at a plant in Missouri.

Postal authorities at Murray State University discovered envelopes containing white powder as they were being processed at the post office. White powder spilled from one on a worker, resulting in the closure of the facility and workers being sent home. Three postal workers were treated for anthrax exposure.

Federal charges of mailing a threatening communication were filed against Any Wood, 22, of Benton; and Erin Creighton, 21, of Morganfield. They allegedly told authorities they sent the letters to another student as a prank and did not intend to cause any fear among postal workers.

"This is serious," U.S. Attorney Steve Pence said. "This type of conduct, a hoax or not, is not only illegal, but it is taking away from our resources to fight our main fight, which is the war on terrorism."