VEGAS:E-mail used to threaten area casinos

[clevfan]

Friday, March 26, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

E-mail used to threaten area casinos


By BRIAN HAYNES
REVIEW-JOURNAL


FBI agents in Las Vegas received an anonymous e-mail Thursday morning threatening area casinos, the agency said.

FBI spokesman Todd Palmer would not reveal the nature of the threat but said agents believed it was not credible.

Jerry Bussell, the governor's homeland security adviser, said the FBI told him the threat involved two Las Vegas properties. But the FBI did not name the properties and soon determined that the threat was a hoax, he said.

The threat "was so vague that I found it strange that it would be looked at as anything other than a routine status," Bussell said.

The e-mail was forwarded to the FBI's Las Vegas office from another federal agency, Palmer said.

After receiving the e-mail, the FBI shared the information with the Nevada Joint Terrorism Task Force, which includes local police agencies and casinos.

FBI agents investigated the threat and determined it had no merit, Palmer said.

Earlier this week a similar threat from the same source made threats to a facility in Washington, D.C. A specific time mentioned in that e-mail passed without incident, the FBI said.

Authorities were trying to find the source of the e-mails.

Nevada homeland security officials receive similar threats from "time to time," Bussell said.

An anonymous e-mail sent to the White House just before Dec. 31 lodged nonspecific terror threats against Carson City and Las Vegas. Federal officials waited several weeks to notify state officials after receiving that e-mail.



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