Posted on 02/20/2019 6:18:51 AM PST by markomalley
At 2:30 p.m. on Jan. 22nd, a tactical sergeant in the Chicago Police Department’s Ogden District was waved down near the West Side production studio where Fox television’s Empire is based.
“Hold me down,” the sergeant told dispatchers. “They got some kind of threat through the mail.”
And so began the long, twisted, and still unravelling tale of Jussie Smollett, star of the Fox program, and recipient of the threat letter who a week later would claim that two masked men beat him, put a noose around his neck, poured bleach on him, and called him racist and anti-gay slurs near his Streeterville apartment building at 2 a.m. on Jan. 29th.
CWBChicago on Monday reported on the month-old, multi-agency federal investigation that now has Smollett in its cross-hairs as possibly being the person who mailed the threat letter that started it all.
New details have now been learned about those very early moments in the ongoing saga as the first police, fire, and federal law enforcement officers handled the threat letter.
CWBChicago is waiting for the Chicago Police Department to fulfill a Freedom of Information request for a full copy of the threat letter incident report. But, on Tuesday, Fox Chicago reporter Rafer Weigel posted the report’s narrative section on Twitter.
Back-up officers’ body cameras were rolling as they arrived and met with the tactical sergeant at Empire’s executive offices. They met with Smollett and the show’s executive producer, Dennis Hammer.
Escorted to Hammer’s office, the officers saw the now-infamous envelope sitting on the corner of a wooden desk. It had been mailed four days earlier in the southwest suburbs.
Hammer told police that he wore gloves to open the envelope and peek inside. And Smollett said he, too, wore gloves to remove the letter from its envelope. He discovered “an unknown white powdery substance on the front of the letter,” officers said.
With that, the fire department was called, a HAZMAT hot zone was established, and CFD specialists began processing the letter. Before long, tests were complete: The white powder was determined to be acetaminophen, the generic name for Tylenol.
Forensic field testing found an “unknown protein substance” on the letter, which was placed into an evidence bag. Hammer’s and Smollett’s gloves were placed in a second bag.
Less than 90 minutes after the tactical sergeant was flagged down, federal law enforcement took over the case. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service had been notified, and an agent from the FBI’s Chicago Field Office had paid a visit to the Empire offices.
That agent, who has been with the bureau for 17 years, has worked international terrorism cases and is currently the FBI’s weapons of mass destruction coordinator and a chemical agent instructor for the FBI SWAT team.
Needless to say, whoever mailed that letter to Smollett should be very concerned to know that an investigator with that level of experience was merely the first person assigned to the case.
Trump's fault, clearly.
Am I the only one sick and tired of hearing about juicy fruit’s hoax?
Yeah just arrest him already.
He tried to throw his own BROTHER under the bus? What kind of an evil person does that??
if some random, unknown white guy came forward with this type of story - alleging he was attacked by a couple of black guys that beat him while calling him a white supremacist, racist, conservative bigot....and even left him with real cuts & bruises....the CPD would have completed a report, stick it in a file drawer and moved on. there wouldn’t have been word one in the media outside of Chicago, if even that.
Big, big mistake doing something that got the Feds involved. Another story says there is a Grand Jury that was looking into this, but now Smollett is likely the target.
I’m in no ways tired!
It’s like watching a TV drama where the bad guy is slowly being encircled by his own stupidity and ineptitude.
I’m loving every minute of this!
To see him squirm and now lawyering up is entertainment you cannot buy!
The two ‘Nigerian’ guys must be giving the CPD a ton of info and they will get off with a slap on the wrist..................
“Am I the only one sick and tired of hearing about juicy fruit’s hoax?”
YES
He should be very concerned. If this is indeed true, he has the FBI on his posterior. If it’s proven a fraud, he’s looking at serious federal jail time...
He was suspicious enough about the envelope to wear gloves to open it. Did he not consider opening it might trigger an explosion, biological or mechanical? This sounds hinky from the jump.
On an earlier thread I predicted Jussie Fruit will soon enter rehab some where for something in an attempt to avoid prosecution, he knows he is toast
Jus’lie Jus’liar Jus’lied Kamala 2020...
How many ‘fake hate crimes’ are never solved because they’re not ‘high profile’? Crimes WE get blamed for ... lies pushed out by liberals. I’m guessing almost all of ‘em.
More (previously 2/18/19) from CWB Chicago - very interesting info:
Smollett threat letter called “enormous mistake”; Purported attack location identified; Federal charges “certain”
https://www.cwbchicago.com/2019/02/smollett-threat-letter-called-enormous.html
It’s like a guy throwing chum in the water to attract sharks and then jumping in.
Exactly.
Rather than calling 911, persons from the tv show ran out into the street, hoping to flag down a police car as if it were a taxi?
Who does that?
Punk.
What kind of gloves?
When were they purchased and brought to work?
Who bought them?
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