Man charged with sending powder to Trump Jr., 4 others
BOSTON — A Massachusetts man was arrested Thursday and charged with sending letters with white powder to five people, including one to Donald Trump Jr. that landed his wife, Vanessa, in the hospital.
Daniel Frisiello, 24, of Beverly, is accused of mailing envelopes this month with threatening messages and a white substance, which turned out to be nonhazardous.
He was held during an appearance in federal court in Worcester pending a detention hearing scheduled for Monday. “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.
Hoax attacks using powder play on fears that date to 2001, when letters containing anthrax were mailed to news organizations and two U.S. senators. Those letters killed five people.
Frisiello is also accused of sending threatening letters and powder to Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.; Michele Dauber, a Stanford University law professor; Nicola Hanna, an interim U.S. attorney in California; and Antonio Sabato, a soap opera actor who is running for a U.S. House seat in California.
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 turned out to be cornstarch.