Threatening bank letter claims 'It's payback time'
Elgin police Wednesday released the contents of a threatening letter sent to a local Chase Bank facility in an envelope filled with a white, powdery substance, one of dozens received by the at company and federal offices since Monday.
"Steal tens of thousands of people's money and not expect reprercussions [sic]," said the letter, received Tuesday at the Chase Bank building at 2500 Westfield Drive.
"It's payback time. What you just breathed in will kill you within 10 days. Thank Mr. Dimon and the FDIC for your demise."
James Dimon is the chairman and chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase.
It was the second time in as many days that a letter in a powder-filled envelope arrived at Chase's credit processing center's mailroom in Elgin.
The U.S. Postal Service is offering a reward of up to $100,000 for help in arresting those who mailed a total of nearly 50 threatening letters over the last several days to Chase Bank branches and federal regulatory offices in suburban Chicago and 10 other cities.
Some of the letters were filled with white powder that has so far tested negative for poisonous or otherwise dangerous toxins, FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said in Washington.
The powder found Monday and Tuesday at the Elgin processing center also was not hazardous, police said.
Both times, the powder prompted specialists and rescue crews from a dozen departments to descend on the facility and investigate the mysterious substance.
An FBI spokesman in Oklahoma, where eight letters turned up, said local preliminary assessments showed the powder was harmless calcium powder.
The letters were mailed to banks and financial institutions in and around Atlanta, Chicago, Columbus, Ohio, Dallas, Denver, Newark, N.J., New York City, Oklahoma City, Phoenix, San Francisco and Washington. Authorities said the letters appear to be from the same source, and were focusing on possible suspects near Amarillo, Texas, where the envelopes were postmarked.
Chase banks are not the only companies receiving letters containing white powder.
On Wednesday, The New York Times reported that a letter containing white powder was found at the company's headquarters but police whether determined the powder was not harmful.
Susan Olafson, public information officer for the city of Elgin, said both letters received at the local Chase facility were mailed from Amarillo.
The letters first began surfacing Monday, forcing some bank branches to close. No injuries were reported, but some Chase employees, including a pregnant woman, were examined as a precaution. Chase branches around the country "are on alert," said JPMorgan Chase spokesman Greg Hassell.
The incident was being investigated as a first, if extreme, public backlash over the nation's financial crisis.
• Daily Herald wire services contributed to this report.