BANGOR, Maine — The trial is underway for a Burlington woman who is charged with sending threatening mail to Senator Susan Collins that she claims was merely a joke.
Suzanne Muscara tried to send a letter to Susan Collins Bangor home that had white powder in it. She told FBI agents the white powder was only baking soda and she thought the letter was funny even though it claimed to contain anthrax.
The letter was intercepted by the U.S. Postal Service who had started screening the Senator’s mail after she had received another letter two days earlier claiming to contain poison.
Muscara’s trial began Monday, November 4 in U.S. District Court in Bangor.
Inside the envelope Muscara sent was an Atena insurance flyer with a handwritten note reading: “Anthrax!!! HA HA HA.” There was also a drawing of a person with two Xs for eyes and a tongue sticking out with an arrow that read: “You.”
Muscara does not dispute that she sent a letter to Collins on October 17, 2018 but she said the letter was not threatening. When she was questioned by the FBI she said she thought it was just a joke.
Senator Collins’ husband, Tom Daffron received a different threatening letter alleging to contain the toxin ricin just two days earlier on October 15, 2018. The letter was postmarked with a Washington state location but the sender has yet to be found or charged by authorities.
Muscara was identified as the sender of the second letter because of a fingerprint FBI found on the outside of the envelope. Authorities arrested Muscara at her Burlington home on April 5, 2019.
Muscara’s letter was intercepted in the Hampden mail sorting facility by a postal inspector.
The mailing came after Collins cast a key vote to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and shortly after she received another threatening letter at home that was addressed to her husband.