Anthrax threats outlined at trial

Prosecutors say Mitchell Monteverdi wrote that he'd release the deadly germ into major cities. He says he was framed.

By GRAHAM BRINK

© St. Petersburg Times,
published November 7, 2001

TAMPA -- Before Sept. 11, Mitchell Monteverdi's trial on allegations that he sent threatening letters to a federal judge and a newspaper reporter would have garnered little attention.

Such threats, while taken seriously, are somewhat routine and often resolved with a plea agreement and little fanfare.

But in this case, the letters, sent more than a year ago, outlined a scenario that is now a concern across the country: the release of anthrax into major U.S. cities.

People familiar with the case, including FBI agents, don't think Monteverdi was capable of pulling off such a plan. Still, he faces 15 years in prison if convicted.

Monteverdi, who is representing himself during the trial, denied any wrongdoing and said the government set him up.

According to federal authorities, Monteverdi mailed a letter to U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday postmarked Feb. 22, 2000. At the time Monteverdi was in jail, doing 15 years for forgery, theft and burglary. The letter was signed "Mitchell Monteverdi," and said that the writer was not a "modern day crazy" and that his demands for money and his release should be taken seriously.

The letter accused judges such as Merryday of being on a "high horse." It said the judicial system was corrupt and caused people such as Timothy McVeigh, who blew up the federal building in Oklahoma City, to snap.

"I'll be by to visit you in person," the letter stated, "and watch you draw your last breath as you contemplate all the wrong you've done."

In April 2000, Monteverdi sent a letter to a prison inmate in Michigan who was part of a white supremacist group, prosecutor Colleen Murphy said. The letter outlined a plot to release anthrax into cities with large African-American communities.

Three weeks later, Tampa Tribune reporter Kathleen Beeman received a six-page handwritten letter outlining the anthrax plot. The letter, also signed "Mitchell Monteverdi," demanded that he be transported by Black Hawk helicopter to the Miami airport where he would catch a plane to Italy. He also wanted $3,000, a passport and a cell phone. In return for those demands, the writer said he would alert officials to the details of the anthrax attacks and Beeman would get a great story.

"It was weird," testified Beeman, who no longer works for the Tribune.

Authorities said Monteverdi admitted during questioning that he wrote the letters.

Monteverdi, 32, argued Tuesday that the letters were postmarked in Hillsborough County but that he would prove that he was in jail in Polk County at the time and could not possibly be the person who sent them. He argued that authorities had not fingerprinted the letters or performed DNA or handwriting tests.

The trial continues today.

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