[ OUR OPINION ]
Hoaxsters must pay
for anthrax scaresWHITE powder contained in most of the thousands of envelopes sent through the mail in the weeks following last Sept. 11 was not anthrax, but unsuspecting recipients had every reason to think it was and be terrified. While sending actual anthrax through the mail is an offense equivalent to attempted murder, a Kalihi woman and others who mailed harmless powder purporting to be anthrax during last fall's national anthrax scare should face significant time behind bars.
THE ISSUE
A Kalihi woman has pleaded guilty to mailing letters with white powder and telling the recipients it was anthrax.Sharon Cardenas, 24, of Kalihi, pleaded guilty this week to mailing threatening letters containing white powder to more than a dozen people. In sending the letters, she allegedly pretended to be her boyfriend's mother, with whom she had a dispute. The letters were sent in two batches -- in mid-2000 and last November. She apparently was aware of the powder's lethal qualities before last fall's anthrax scare on the East Coast.
Cardenas behavior should be treated more seriously than that of an office worker pulling a prank on a colleague, as foolhardy as such a practical joke might be.
"This was a concerted, ongoing scheme to victimize and frame one particular individual for an extremely serious crime," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Ken Sorenson.
However, Cardenas should not be put in the league of Clayton Lee Waagner, the anti-abortion crusader who was on the FBI's "10 most wanted" list while mailing hundreds of hoax anthrax letters to women's health clinics around the country. A remorseless Waagner was convicted and sentenced in January to more than 30 years in prison for firearms, theft and jail-break convictions and is awaiting trial on the anthrax-hoax charges.
The federal law for threatening to use anthrax provides for a sentence of up to life in prison, but guidelines established by the U.S. Sentencing Commission supersede statutory limits. Defendants who pleaded guilty to anthrax hoaxes on the mainland in the post-Sept. 11 period have been given sentences as light as three years probation. Cardenas attorney says the guidelines indicate a potential prison term of several years for his client.
After last fall's attack on America, the Sentencing Commission increased the penalty for sending actual anthrax through the mail from as little as 17 years to 30 years to life in prison, but guidelines for hoax cases remain at relatively low levels. The commission should review the wide range of circumstances surrounding hoaxes and apply a standard that recognizes the offender's motive and emphasizes his or her prior criminal activity without judging political beliefs.
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