Oklahoma man accused of sending letters with white powder

Au.S. federal officials accused a Oklahoma City man of sending hundreds of letters containing white powder and threatening warnings about treason to civil servants before the elections of 2024 and 2026.

The powders proved harmless — yeast or flour — although not all the letters were fully analyzed, the FBI stated in a legal document released on Tuesday.

67-year-old Robin Martin is accused of spreading a farce and sending threatening communications through the mail. He was arrested on Monday and attended the U.S. District Court in Oklahoma City today before being sent to prison to await a hearing next week.

The Office of the Federal Public Defender, who represents Martin, said he would not comment on the charges. A daughter, Ava Martin, refused to comment when contacted by the Associated Press.

Deputy Attorney General John Eisenberg classified the case as a “calculated attempt to terrorize civil servants” who did not know whether dust could cause them discomfort.

The investigation dates back to 2024, when election officials in several states reported the receipt of correspondence containing a white matter and a three-page letter declaring war, the FBI reported. Some contained warnings that could only be read under ultraviolet light, such as: “Stay on the right side of history! Your life may depend on it!"

The sender indicated as return address “U.S.T.E.A., United States Traitor Elimination Army, Takoma Park, MD”.

Researchers believe that more than 700 postal deliveries this fall seemed to be associated with the same sender, but with a different return address. They were addressed to election officials, members of Congress, polling institutes, media and federal authorities, FBI agent David Cole said in testimony.

“ The author of the letter described problems he considered to exist in the 2020 elections, claimed that President Donald Trump had won the 2020 elections and expressed concerns about some of those same issues that were repeated in the then imminent elections of 2024,” he said.

The federal authorities announced last month that they were investigating letters with “suspecting substances” that had been mailed to Congress and elections offices throughout the country and urged the recipients to treat mail as potentially dangerous.

The orders led to the evacuation of election offices in Louisiana and Oklahoma. Several states, from Idaho to Florida, claimed to have received letters or that they had been intercepted by the Post Office.

In a similar case, a 37-year-old man from Illinois was accused last month of sending threatening letters to members of Congress containing a white powder, including one with a note saying “HAH, enjoy the present,” according to court records.

The FBI claimed to have video evidence of Martin's car stopping in October next to mailboxes at Postal Service facilities in Oklahoma City, Dallas and San Antonio. The investigators also collected their fingerprints from a letter addressed to the FBI director, Kash Patel, whose first name was written as “Kashyap”.