Dust Storm: Man pleads guilty to sending 23 hoax anthrax letters

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St. Clair man pleads guilty to sending 23 hoax anthrax letters

Tuesday, July 12th, 4:58 pm

St. Clair Co., Ala. - A man from St. Clair County pleaded guilty to 23 counts of mailing hoax anthrax letters to people in Alabama.

Clifton Lamar "Cliff" Dodd, a 39-year old from Lincoln, pleaded guilty on July 12 of sending 15 letters containing a white powdery substance to several people between March 6 and April 5 of 2010, plus mailing eight hoax anthrax letters April 24, 2010.

Some of the recipients of the hoax anthrax letters include U.S. Senator Richard Shelby, Alabama Senator Jim Preuitt of Talladega, Talladega County Sheriff Jerry Studdard, two Talladega County state court judges, Lincoln and Oxford police investigators and Talladega County Jail inmates who had been in jail at the same time as Dodd. For more details, see the release below from the office of Joyce White Vance, United States Attorney for the North District of Alabama.

A St. Clair County man pleaded guilty today in federal court to mailing a series of hoax anthrax letters in Alabama in March and April last year, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance.

Just before his trial was to begin, CLIFTON LAMAR “CLIFF” DODD, 39, of Lincoln, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Abdul Kallon to 23 counts of mailing letters that contained a threat in the form of white powder that could reasonably have been perceived as the biological toxin, anthrax. He also pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to mail eight of the hoax anthrax letters.

One of the threat letters was delivered to U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby’s office in the Robert S. Vance Federal on March 8, 2010. Other recipients of the white-powder letters Dodd has pleaded guilty to sending include Alabama Sen. Jim Preuitt of Talladega, two Talladega County state court judges, Talladega County Sheriff Jerry Studdard, several Talladega County Jail inmates who were in the jail at the same time as Dodd, and police investigators from both the Lincoln and Oxford police departments who previously had interviewed Dodd.

“We are pleased with the defendant’s decision to plead guilty and look forward to sentencing,” Vance said.

Dodd acknowledged sending 15 hoax anthrax letters between March 6 and April 5, 2010. He also pleaded guilty to mailing another eight letters containing white powder on April 24, 2010, and to conspiring with another man to mail those letters. His co-defendant pleaded guilty last year to the conspiracy charge.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the FBI, the Federal Protective Service and the Talladega County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Whisonant prosecuted the case.