Social Security Field Office Closed By Anthrax Hoax

     From the Leesburg, Florida Daily Commercial:

Police and firefighters converged on two Lake County offices Wednesday to investigate suspicious packages, although one quickly proved to be a hoax.

Members of Lake County’s Hazardous Materials unit responded to the Lake Emergency Medical Services office on Old U.S. Highway 441 in Mount Dora early Wednesday afternoon after a “white powdery substance” arrived there by mail, according to City of Mount Dora spokeswoman Lisa McDonald. ...

12 employees who came in contact with the letter were temporarily quarantined while the Hazmat team tested the substance, but the team soon determined the substance was not hazardous.

At the same time, the Social Security Administration building in Leesburg was temporarily closed after employees received another suspicious package. Leesburg police did not immediately know what kind of package it was or how it arrived but said they were waiting for the Hazmat team to finish in Mount Dora and come investigate the suspicious substance there.

The scares were the latest in a series of such hoaxes dating back to last year.

Early in 2017, the Daily Commercial received a letter that threatened the life of President Donald Trump, and another mailed to the paper in December contained white powder inside a folded piece of looseleaf paper with the word ANTHRAX written across it. Lake County Fire Rescue’s hazardous materials team responded to the newspaper and determined that the substance was baking powder.

Then on Jan. 29, three letters — presumably from the same person — arrived at three locations in Leesburg: the Daily Commercial, Bank of America on North 14th Street and Florida Heart & Vascular Center on Dixie Highway, across from Leesburg Regional Medical Center. It was the second time the bank had received one of the letters.

No harmful substances were in those letters.