NIH Employee Pleads Not Guilty to Anthrax Charges

A National Institutes of Health employee pleaded not guilty yesterday to making an anthrax threat against the Broward Country, Fla., Property Appraiser’s Office, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Aug. 17).

Michelle Ledgister, who works as a public health program analyst for the agency, does not have access to anthrax or other biological agents, according to NIH spokesman Dan Ralbovsky.

Ledgister could face a $250,000 fine and up to five years in prison if convicted under a federal antiterrorism law forbidding false anthrax threats, according to AP (Associated Press/Washington Post, Aug. 25).

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