California man sentenced to 4-plus years in prison for mailing fake anthrax samples in 2008

Calif. man sentenced in 2008 anthrax mail hoax

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A 66-year-old Sacramento man who admitted mailing dozens of fake anthrax samples around the country has been sentenced to four years and three months in federal prison.

The U.S. Attorney’s office says a federal judge ordered Marc McMain Keyser taken into immediate custody Monday after concluding the retired elementary school teacher “may be dangerous to himself and others.”

Keyser was convicted in September of three counts of committing an anthrax hoax and two counts of mailing threatening communications.

At trial, he said he mailed more than 100 sugar packets that had been labeled “Anthrax sample” to media organizations, politicians and retail businesses in 2008 to demonstrate how vulnerable the country was to an attack.