Anthrax Threat Forces Evacuation

CHATSWORTH —  In the fifth such incident in Southern California in a week, and the third in the San Fernando Valley, authorities evacuated an office building Wednesday because of an anonymous phone threat of a “biological agent.”

Like the other incidents, in which calls or letters threatened the release of the deadly bacterium anthrax, the threat triggered a massive response from city, county and federal authorities, even though they suspected it was a hoax.

City fire officials evacuated and quarantined about 70 employees in front of the Time Warner Cable Co. building at 9267 Topanga Canyon Blvd. for several hours while specialists gathered air samples for testing.

LAPD Cmdr. Bruce E. Hagerty said the incidents appear to be unrelated and could be the work of copycats. “We are progressing very well with our investigation and we are confident we will make some arrests,” he said.

Hagerty called the expense of investigating the incidents “catastrophic.” Officer Don Cox, an LAPD spokesman, put the cost of the four anthrax scares in the city at $2 million. “That’s a conservative estimate,” he said.

The threat was phoned in to the city Fire Department’s dispatch center at 10:15 a.m., but Hagerty said authorities were unable to trace the caller’s line.

Employees--who huddled in Red Cross blankets, warmed themselves in their cars and spoke to loved ones on their cellular phones--declined comment. They were told they were clear to leave at 4:15 p.m.

Police closed one lane of Topanga Canyon Boulevard, and part of Prairie Street, where they set up a command center, for much of the day.

Time Warner Cable executives could not be reached for comment.

Meanwhile, court officials said the Van Nuys facilities would reopen today after being shut down Monday by an anthrax threat that forced the evacuation of 2,000 people. Federal agents determined that no biological agents had been released in the buildings.

The shutdown of the Superior and Municipal courts will cost taxpayers about $400,000, county officials said. Both courthouses will face severe backlogs next week as they try to catch up with delayed cases.

About 100 people were quarantined for eight hours Friday and given antibiotics when an anonymous caller told a court clerk that anthrax had been released into the air conditioning system at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court building in Woodland Hills.

Other such threats resulted in the evacuation and decontamination of workers at a 21-story building in Westwood Village and a school district office in Riverside County.

Assemblyman Bob Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks) said Wednesday he would introduce legislation next month to make such acts of terrorism state offenses.

Under the California Prevention of Terrorism by Weapons of Mass Destruction Act, it would be a state as well as a federal crime to release or threaten to unleash chemical, nuclear or biological agents against people, animals or the environment. Doing so would be punishable by a fine of $250,000 and up to 12 years in state prison.

The bill, which Hertzberg is carrying at the request of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, specifically lists anthrax as one of the bacteria considered “restricted biological agents.” It also targets release of such viruses as Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, ebola, Venezuelan equine encephalitis and a host of other agents.

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The Los Angeles Terrorism Early Warning Group, a task force of FBI and sheriff’s representatives, asked Hertzberg to introduce the bill because it saw inconsistencies between state and federal terrorism laws.

“Though we have some good federal laws, the state laws are pretty weak, and we want to strengthen them,” Hertzberg said, adding that he had planned to introduce the legislation even before the current rash of threats. “It [the bill] tries to take a little more comprehensive approach. Our legislation makes it a felony to even threaten to use a weapon of mass destruction, which is stronger than the federal law.”

“Boy, is this timely,” he added, noting that his district office is right across the street from the Van Nuys courthouse complex. “That was close to home for me.”

Times staff writer Miguel Bustillo contributed to this story.