BOSTON – A Massachusetts man was arrested Thursday and charged with sending letters with white powder to five people including one to Donald Trump Jr. and another to Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) about the Larry Nassar case.
Daniel Frisiello, of Beverly, is accused of mailing five envelopes earlier this month with threatening messages and a white substance, which turned out to be nonhazardous.
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"These kind of hoaxes may not cause physical harm, but they scare the heck out of people," said Andrew Lelling, U.S. attorney for Massachusetts.
The letter to Stabenow was postmarked Feb. 12 and had no return address. It was opened by someone in Stabenow's office Feb. 15 and contained an unknown suspicious white power.
The text of the letter was as follows:
"If you condone Margraves reaction to his daughter's testimony on Dr. Nassar, you are no better than he is. You deserve what is coming to you like he is thinking you're a (expletive) version of a vigilante, do us a favor go (expletive) or better yet."
Randy Margraves tried to attack Nassar during a sentencing hearing Feb. 2.
VIDEO: Father of sexual abuse victims charges Larry Nassar in court during sentencing
Stabenow said that she wished that court security had been a little slower in restraining Margraves.
READ: Sen. Stabenow says she 'would have liked five minutes' with Nassar
Hoax attacks using white powder play on fears that date to 2001, when letters containing deadly anthrax were mailed to news organizations and the offices of two U.S. senators. Those letters killed five people.
Frisiello was expected to appear in federal court in Worcester later Thursday. It could not immediately be determined if he had a lawyer.
Authorities say Frisiello sent five envelopes early last month that included threatening messages and white substances. The envelopes were postmarked in Boston.
Federal authorities said one of the letters containing powder was sent to Antonio Sabato Jr., the Republican former underwear model and soap opera actor who is running for a U.S. House seat in California.
Other recipients were Nicola Hanna, an interim U.S. attorney in California; and Michele Dauber, a Stanford University law professor who has promoted the effort to recall the judge who presided over the Brock Turner sexual assault case.
The letter to the president's son was opened by Vanessa Trump on Feb. 12. She called 911 and reported she was coughing and felt nauseous. She was hospitalized briefly.
The substance in the letter turned out to be cornstarch.
The envelope sent to Trump included a typed message calling him an "awful, awful person," according to court documents.
"I am surprised that your father lets you speak on TV," the message said. "You make the family idiot, Eric, look smart."
READ: Criminal complaint against Daniel Frisiello
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