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Suspicious Powder Letters At Two Dallas Locations

Dallas Fire Rescue Haz Mat crew wraps up call about suspicious white powder at the Crowley Courts building.
Dallas Fire Rescue Haz Mat crew wraps up call about suspicious white powder at the Crowley Courts building.

Two suspicious envelopes found within minutes of each other this morning kept Dallas and Plano Haz Mat crews busy. The incidents came a day after a large reward was offered in a four-year-old case of white-powder-letters mailed from North Texas.

The first call was to a courtroom on the sixth floor of the Frank Crowley Courthouse in Dallas. Jason Evans, with Dallas Fire-Rescue, says the powder was quickly determined to be an crushed anti-depressant. Officials say most likely Zoloft.

Evans: There were three people sheltered in place. They did not exhibit any symptoms of being exposed to anything toxic.

The letter was opened in the sixth floor chambers of a judge. A court clerk says it came from an inmate the Judge sent to prison.

A second suspicious envelope was dropped off at a private postal store on Preston at Frankford. It’s now in the hands of the FBI. Evans says Plano Haz Mat technicians, assisting Dallas, tested the outside of the envelope. The results were negative for a hazardous substance.

The FBI is investigating a four-year-long string of white-powder letters sent from North Texas. This week, a $150,000 reward was offered in that case.

Jason Evans says even though the suspicious powder turned out to be harmless, each incident must be treated as a potential threat.

Evans: We can’t let ourselves grow complacent. Anytime you get a delivery like this and you don’t know what it is, take the most necessary precautions. Call 9-1-1 and let the experts decide whether or not it’s a threat.

Evans says a rash of powder letters earlier this month in North Texas put a strain on local Haz Mat teams. Investigators say the two latest incidents are not related to the larger case of nearly 400 white powder letters sent from North Texas since 2008.

Former KERA reporter BJ Austin spent more than 25 years in broadcast journalism, anchoring and reporting in Atlanta, New York, New Orleans and Dallas. Along the way, she covered Atlanta City Hall, the Georgia Legislature and the corruption trials of Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards.