Man arrested over letter threats

Source: Agencies  |   2009-2-5  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

A MAN apparently upset about losing more than US$60,000 in a bank failure has been arrested on charges of mailing threatening letters containing suspicious powder to banks and federal offices.

Richard Goyette, 47, was arrested at the Albuquerque airport in New Mexico on Monday, the United States Attorney's office in Dallas said.

He is charged with knowingly and intentionally conveying false and misleading information.

Goyette is accused of mailing 65 threatening letters in October to financial institutions and federal regulatory offices in 11 states and the District of Columbia.

Sixty-four letters contained a white powder that proved harmless.

The 65th letter, sent to the headquarters of banking giant JPMorgan Chase & Co, included a threat of the "McVeighing of your corporate headquarters within six months." Timothy McVeigh was the domestic terrorist executed for bombing a federal building and killing 168 people in Oklahoma City in 1995.

The other letters, postmarked Amarillo, included the message "it's payback time" and promised death within 10 days, according to the FBI.

Goyette will be returned to Texas to face the charges.