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Vanity: Post Office Warning
Me | 11/11/2001 | Boris

Posted on 11/11/2001 12:10:05 PM PST by boris

This is a vanity because I cannot cite a source. Here's what happened:

I went to my local postal drop--a place where I keep a mailbox for receiving packages. While speaking to the attendant, I joked that he should be wearing gloves and a mask.

He then related to me this little tale:

"I was in a very small U.S. Post Office in Tustin (CA) the other day. While I was there, a U.S. Postal Inspector came in and handed the postmistress (the only employee) a pair of gloves and a mask. 'I am here to order you to put these on', he told her.

"Why?

"A fellow entered a postal drop and had a couple of dozen envelopes. No return address. Addressed to hospital administrators. He wanted them hand cancelled. The attendant noticed that they were cold as if they'd been refrigerated. He refused to accept the letters, and the guy picked them up and left."

I remarked that the attendant should have kept the letters and called the FBI but evidently the "customer" grabbed them and left.

OK. Big deal. A story.

============================

BUT. Later I was in the Chatsworth Post Office to pick up a package. Spoke to a lady in the line. She told me the story was true; that an e-mail had been sent out to hospitals from the Centers for Disease Control. She herself was a hospital worker and had seen the email.

I asked her to forward me a copy of the email but I have not seen it yet.

Posted for discussion only; I do not claim it is true, until I see the CDC email.

Has anyone else heard a similar story?

--Boris


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: anthraxscarelist
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1 posted on 11/11/2001 12:10:05 PM PST by boris
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To: boris
No, I have not heard that story. And the circumstances suggest it didn't happen. But, the USPS does inform the public regarding what is known at www.usps.com

You might try it.

2 posted on 11/11/2001 12:21:48 PM PST by muawiyah
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To: boris
Do you know, even approximately, what date the attempted mailing was made?

Or, if you don't, what date did you hear the story in Tustin? At least we'd know that the incident was no later than that date.

3 posted on 11/11/2001 12:22:57 PM PST by Mitchell
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To: boris
I think it's true. I heard it on the news a day or so after it happened, on Los Angeles stations KFI and KABC. They did say that it happened in Tustin, I think at a mailbox drop place (like Mailboxes, Etc. - they did not give a name). A man came in with many envelopes addressed to hospitals and wanted them stamped for postage, and they were cold to the touch, as if they'd been refrigerated (weather was quite warm, too), with no return addresses. When the person behind the counter asked him to put return addresses on, he refused, grabbed the letters, and left.

However, no one has ever said anything about these letters again. I wonder if they got mailed.

4 posted on 11/11/2001 12:31:49 PM PST by Yaelle
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Comment #5 Removed by Moderator

To: Yaelle
I think it's true. I heard it on the news a day or so after it happened, on Los Angeles stations KFI and KABC. They did say that it happened in Tustin....

Do you remember the approximate date you heard this, or the date it is supposed to have happened?

6 posted on 11/11/2001 12:38:03 PM PST by Mitchell
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To: Mitchell
bump for future reading
7 posted on 11/11/2001 12:42:24 PM PST by sweet_diane
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To: boris; Sabertooth; dennisw; Travis McGee; RANGERAIRBORNE; clintonh8r; JohnHuang2; kattracks; Gracey
Here's a topper: My daughter was delivered an envelope (into her PO box) postmarked BAGHDAD, IRAQ, 9-16-01, by the Cayman Island postal office.

She immediately took the letter to the police department, who asked her what she wanted them to do about it!

The enclosed letter requested "detailed" maps of the Grand Cayman Island.

She "thinks" the FBI now has that letter. The CI postal workers are "now" wearing gloves and masks, but my daughter was never told whether the envelope had been tested for anthrax.

8 posted on 11/11/2001 12:47:36 PM PST by onyx
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To: boris
According to a friend who works at a Southern California post office, this story is correct. In the version of the story told to me, approximately a week ago, the letters were seen by a clerk in a postal contract station somewhere in Orange County, California. The man with the letters who approached the clerk was "Middle Eastern-looking and acting nervously." Apparently, when the man was told that the letters were unacceptable without a return address, he took the letters and left quickly.

The FBI was contacted and subsequently, all letters placed in postal collection boxes throughout Southern California were checked one by one, (a very laborious process) before being processed by USPS mail processing centers. They were looking for letters hand-addressed to hospitals, no return address, with Liberty stamps.

I have not heard what resulted from this search, but I do know that it went on for several days. I don't know why the man took them to a clerk in the first place, as they already had postage on them and could have just been put in a collection box anywhere in the area. You are right, though...the clerk who thought the letters were suspect should have just taken them and then called the FBI.

9 posted on 11/11/2001 12:49:14 PM PST by StealthChild
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To: boris
Here's an article on it. The incident is said to have occurred on Wednesday, which would be Oct. 31, the individual is described as Iranian, and the article says that it's unknown whether the envelopes were mailed.

A copy of the article appears below.


Attempt to send suspicious mail spurs alert

NBC4.TV

TUSTIN, Nov. 2 - Postal workers in Tustin and elsewhere remained on heightened alert today for a stack of letters an "Iranian gentleman" snatched back this week when questions were raised about them.

The letters had no return addresses, were hand-written and were cold to the touch, as though they had been taken out of a refrigerator, said Pamela Prince of the U.S. Postal Inspector's Office in Pasadena.

The man who brought the half dozen or so letters into a mail contracting facility in Tustin on Wednesday -- they were addressed to hospitals and medical facilities on the East Coast -- got upset when the worker asked him to write in a return address, Prince said.

He left, and it was unknown if the letters -- which had 34-cent Statue of Liberty stamps on them -- were ever mailed.

But the incident raised enough suspicion that postal workers throughout California were asked to be on the lookout for any of the letters, Prince said.

"We'd asked all postal employees to be on the look out for any suspicious mail since the anthrax scare first surfaced," Prince said. "Our employees and customers have reported over 600, close to 700." But "the alert was heightened after this."

Phillip Capuano, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, Branch 737, called the suspect "an Iranian gentleman," but said the worker was unable to provide a good description of him or get the license plate number.

Prince said that "ideally, we would have been able to retain custody" of the letters. But "the No. 1 concern is to maintain safety. All we can ask of people is to follow their best judgment. I think the clerk did a great job" in alerting authorities.

"I understand the clerk was seen for treatment," she added.

Investigators are still unsure whether the letters were cold enough to indicate they had been in a refrigerator, or might just have been left out in the cold morning air, Prince said.

Charles Miller, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, Branch 1100, said postal workers looking lor the suspicious letters "literally went through the mail, piece-by-piece" at the dozen or so general mail facilities in Southern California.

"You've got to understand the magnitude of the mail," Miller said.

"We measure mail by feet, with large companies getting 2-3 feet a day. We deal with thousands of feet a day, and it's like looking for a needle in a haystack."

10 posted on 11/11/2001 12:57:14 PM PST by Mitchell
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To: Mitchell
Thanks!
11 posted on 11/11/2001 1:30:49 PM PST by boris
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To: boris
I am noticing a distinct slowdown in the speed of the mail. MRIs I mailed to a doctor in Chicago by priority mail still were not there after 1 week, and Ebay purchases I usually get within five business days are taking nine or so. I guess this is a good thing--they are still getting mail through the system, but they are taking time to check things.
12 posted on 11/11/2001 1:45:33 PM PST by ChemistCat
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To: maica; Spirit Of Truth
bttt
13 posted on 11/11/2001 9:51:11 PM PST by Travis McGee
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To: *Anthrax_Scare_List
Indexing and bumping
14 posted on 11/21/2001 2:18:18 AM PST by Lion's Cub
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To: Mitchell; gumbo; Lion's Cub; Alamo-Girl
Oct. 31 mailing would be too late to explain Kathy Nguyen, wouldn't it?
15 posted on 11/21/2001 2:50:26 AM PST by aristeides
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To: aristeides
Oct. 31 mailing would be too late to explain Kathy Nguyen, wouldn't it?

I had to go back and look. She died on Oct. 30

16 posted on 11/21/2001 3:12:18 AM PST by Lion's Cub
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To: aristeides; boris
Interesting story; thanks for the bump.

This could add weight to another FReeper's theory that medical supplies may be a target of contamination.

Undermining Americans' confidence in their hospitals and medical system could be the tactic.

17 posted on 11/21/2001 4:52:53 AM PST by gumbo
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To: gumbo
Have a strange take on this story. If I was a Muslim right now, I would be sending my people everywhere trying to start incidents that could be propagandized by Muslims as Racial Profiling so that people would become afraid to confront them. Had that postal worker been doing the job right, whoever demanded the gloves be put on would have been in cuffs within 3 seconds... though the *cool* letters were probably just removed from his Porsche convertible and as innocent as paying his bills. (Although in some cases, THAT could be considered suspicious.)
18 posted on 11/21/2001 5:27:26 AM PST by NixNatAVanG InDaBurgh
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To: gumbo; GeorgeandtheDralgore
Bump!
19 posted on 11/21/2001 5:33:51 AM PST by Fred Mertz
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To: Fred Mertz
Thanks for the ping. Weird stuff. Lots of anthrax news today. Check my ping on the other thread if you can.
20 posted on 11/21/2001 6:32:58 AM PST by Elenya
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