They Get Letters

Threat Notes Mentioned Bush

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - An engineer at a nuclear power plant has been charged with sending threatening letters containing a powdery substance to a country club where
President Bush is scheduled to appear Tuesday for a Republican campaign event.

Michael Lee Braun, 51, was appeared in court Monday on two federal charges of sending threats through the mail. The FBI said he also is a suspect in mailing dozens of similar threats since shortly after the 2001 terrorist attacks.

The charges are connected to two letters prosecutors said Braun mailed on Thursday to the Serrano Country Club and Serrano Visitors Center in El Dorado Hills, a tony community in the foothills east of Sacramento. Bush plans to appear at the club Tuesday afternoon in a campaign event for U.S. Rep. John Doolittle, R-Calif.

The letters contained threats to Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Doolittle, according to an FBI statement.

While this particular case isn't "believed to be" related to the 2001 anthrax mailings, this loop has been sending out this stuff since 2001. 51 mailings. At first, when I began reading this story, I thought we were starting to see a new wave of "white powder" threats... but obviously, this little elf has been very busy in his workshop for a long time. Glad they got him, but it does strike me as a little odd that it took this long to make an arrest. But hey, I'm not in the FBI, what do I know?

The affidavit said Braun has a master's degree in radiological physics and a law degree. He has worked as a nuclear engineer at Rancho Seco since 1984 while practicing law part-time.

Uh, yikes. I guess we should be glad he's just sending around baking soda.