'I'm going to kill as many of you ... as I can'
PORTLAND, Ore. - A Tillamook County man who pleaded guilty to sending 25 threatening letters containing fake anthrax powder to state and federal government offices over a period of nearly three years will spend 15 months in prison.
David Albert Groves of Bay City, Ore., was sentenced to 15 months and $12,446 restitution.
DNA results traced some of the letters to Groves, and the handwriting on many seemed to be the same.
Federal prosecutors said Grove did not raise an insanity defense but did produce evidence at his sentencing hearing that he suffered from severe bipolar disorder with occasional episodes of psychotic behavior.
Among the letters Groves was suspected of sending was one that arrived at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in Washington, D.C., on May 31, 2005, containing a threatening message and a powder.
The powder, contained in a smaller interior envelope, tested negative.
On June 6, 2005, a letter with powder arrived at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Hyattsville, Md., containing an obscene wish that the recipient die and indicating that the sender had "lots more stamps and there's plenty of people that I would like to give them a piece of mind." It was signed "Beezulbub."
Both bore a Portland address and postmark as did many others, the affidavit said. Many of the return addresses proved bogus, and four bore the names of famous pirates.
While the powder in the June 6 letter also tested negative, the affidavit says it shut down the BATFE's mailroom for some time.
That Oct. 20 a third letter arrived at the BATFE "containing an overtly threatening letter" stating "check for prints I made sure they were all over," an oversize simulation of U.S. currency and a statement saying "I'm going to kill as many of you ... as I can" and signed, "Love, Beezulbub." The date "9-11" appeared on the corners and in the center of the simulated currency.
On Oct. 31, 2005, a similar letter with a powder and a "Deception Dollar" was delivered to a branch of US Bank in Gresham with another angry, obscene message wishing death on the recipients. The envelope carried the logo for a motel in Bend.
Similar letters containing angry statements and power arrived at the offices of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife in Salem, the Northwest Oregon Housing Authority in Warrenton, the Oregon Department of Revenue and the Oregon Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence.
Letters deposited in Tillamook, near Bay City, are postmarked and processed in Portland, according to court records related to the case.
