Judge fines reporter in anthrax suit

WASHINGTON -- A federal judge held a former USA Today reporter in contempt Friday for refusing to identify her sources for stories about a former Army scientist under scrutiny in the 2001 anthrax attacks.

U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton said Toni Locy defied his order that she cooperate in scientist Steven J. Hatfill's lawsuit against the government. Hatfill accuses the Justice Department of violating his privacy by discussing the investigation with reporters.

Under a court order that will go into effect at midnight Tuesday, Walton will institute fines which Locy must pay out of her own funds.

The amounts will be $500 a day for the first week, $1,000 a day for the second week and $5,000 thereafter until she appears before him on April 3.

Locy "is precluded from accepting any monetary or other form of reimbursement for the payment of the monetary sanction imposed by the court," Walton wrote.

Five people were killed and 17 sickened when anthrax was mailed to Capitol Hill lawmakers and members of the news media just weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Then-Attorney General John Ashcroft called Hatfill, who worked at the Army's infectious diseases laboratory from 1997 to 1999, "a person of interest" in the investigation.

Walton ruled in August that five journalists must identify the government officials who discussed details about the case. Though reporters said testifying would chill the flow of information, Walton said that fear is outweighed by Hatfill's rights in his Privacy Act lawsuit.