Former NIH Worker Gets Probation for Anthrax Threat

Former U.S. National Institutes of Health employee Michelle Ledgister was sentenced to house arrest and probation last week for making an anthrax threat against a county office in Florida, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Sept. 30).

Ledgister also must pay $1,000 in fines, on top of the more than $2,200 in restitution already paid to Broward County, Fla., which responded to the threat with hazardous materials crews. The court could have sentenced Ledgister to five years in prison, but prosecutors recommended a lesser penalty.

“Not a day goes by that I don't feel shame and remorse for my conduct,” an apologetic Ledgister told the court. “I'm terribly sorry for what I've done.”

Despite her crime, U.S. District Judge James Cohn wished Ledgister well.

“Ms. Ledgister, good luck to you. Let this be a lesson,” Cohn said (Curt Anderson, Associated Press/Bradenton Herald, Dec. 17).

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