Federal authorities have charged an Oklahoma City man with sending hundreds of letters containing non-hazardous white powder to public officials before the 2024 and 2026 elections.
The powders were found to be yeast or flour, although not all of the letters were fully tested, the FBI said in a court filing released Tuesday.
Robin Martin is accused of spreading a hoax and sending threatening communications. Martin was arrested Monday and was scheduled to appear Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Oklahoma City.
Online records do not list an attorney who could comment on his behalf, and several relatives did not immediately respond to social media messages seeking comment.
Federal authorities announcement last month, they were investigating letters containing “suspicious substances” that had been sent to congressional and election offices across the country and urged recipients to treat such mailings as “potentially dangerous.”
These packages led to the evacuation in October of election offices in Louisiana and Oklahoma. Many states, from Idaho to Florida, said their election offices had received letters or had them intercepted by the Postal Service.
Investigators estimate that more than 700 shipments appear to be associated with the same sender. They were addressed to election officials, members of Congress, pollsters, the media and federal law enforcement, FBI agent David Cole said in an affidavit.
The investigation dated back to 2024, when several election officials in each state reported a mailer containing a white substance and a three-page letter declaring war, the FBI said. Some carried ominous messages that could only be read by ultraviolet light.
The sender wrote a return address as “USTEA, United States Traitor Elimination Army, Takoma Park, MD.”
A common message in the 2024 and 2026 mailings was a warning to recipients about upcoming arrests for treason “or worse!! »
The FBI said it has video evidence of Martin’s car stopping in October at mailboxes at Postal Service locations in Oklahoma City, Dallas and San Antonio. Investigators also gleaned his fingerprints from a letter addressed to FBI Director Kash Patel, whose first name was written “Kashyap.”
The Democratic Socialists of America apparently assisted the FBI in its investigation. The FBI said it believes Martin, posing as someone using the name George Livingston, posted a message to a DSA mailing list in October warning that members were traitors and could be arrested for treason if they voted in the Nov. 3 election.
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Associated Press reporter Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington contributed to this report.
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