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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
Aug. 21 , 2009
OVERLAND PARK MAN CHARGED WITH MAKING SECOND ANTHRAX THREAT
TOPEKA, KAN. – John Philip Barker, 47, Overland Park, Kan, has been charged with sending an assistant U.S. Attorney in Kansas a letter containing a white powder he claimed was anthrax, U.S. Attorney Lanny Welch said today.
According to a criminal complaint, on Aug. 19, 2009, Barker mailed a letter with an envelope containing a white substance and a scrap of notebook paper bearing the handwritten words (including misspelling):
YOU HAVE BEEN EXPOSED
TO ANTRAX
DIE
The Assistant U.S. Attorney to whom the letter was addressed had prosecuted Baker for making a similar threat in June 2008 in a letter to the Internal Revenue Service in Austin Texas. In that case, Barker was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison.
If convicted in the new case, Barker faces a maximum penalty of 5 years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,0000. The Federal Bureau of Investigation worked on the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Randy Hendershot is prosecuting.
In all cases, defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty. The indictments filed merely contain allegations of criminal conduct.
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