Anthrax scare was an expensive hoax

It was one costly hoax.

Area agencies have been crunching numbers this week pertaining to last Thursday's anthrax scare and the figures are big.

The Highlands County Sheriff's Office spent approximately $24,996 in labor costs alone.

"There were a couple hundred dollars in supplies that put it just over $25,000," said Lisa Burley, administrative chief of staff for the HCSO. "That is the actual event alone."

Burley added that central dispatch received 141 911 calls related to just the hoax.

"That was just amazing to me," she said.

The Highlands County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) spent $2,000 for Hazmat suits, $150 for Tyvec suits, $6,000 in mutual aid and $4,500 for EOC personnel, according to representatives. The total comes out to $12,650.

Yolanda Carbia, resident agent in charge of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's Sebring field office, said she spent 35 hours on the case herself for two days.

"I had pretty much my whole office and my analyst at the (sheriff's command center)," Carbia said, adding that this came out to six people and they worked from 8 a.m., April 2 to 3 a.m., April 3.

On Thursday, Carbia did not have exact costs, but a ballpark figure was $32 an hour each for six people over 19 hours. That number came out to $3,648.

The Sebring Police Department assigned four detectives to assist in the investigation at a total of $650, according to Cmdr. Steve Carr.

Local, state and federal agencies, not to mention the community at large, were kept on their toes last Thursday after a nurse at Florida Hospital Heartland Division found an envelope under the windshield wiper of her vehicle at 2 a.m. Inside was a white substance and a note indicating it was anthrax.

The hospital was put on lockdown and remained that way for more than 12 hours. As the day progressed, more envelopes were found in the mailboxes of Sun 'n Lake residents and in the neighborhood east of U.S. 27 across from Sun 'n Lake.

Around 80 total envelopes were recovered, with 48 of them found on windshields at the hospital. The substance tested negative for anthrax.

On April 4, a suspect, Jerron Mario Moffitt, 20, of 3901 Ponce De Leon Blvd., was arrested and charged with 79 counts of hoax of a weapon of mass destruction. He remained in jail Thursday on a $790,000 bond.

Moffitt is set for arraignment on May 4.

If the suspect is found guilty of the charges, Burley said the sheriff's office would seek restitution through the prosecution to help recoup the cost of dealing with the hoax.

She said they are also looking to see if there is any expense reimbursement available through Homeland Security.

In the meantime, the hunt for a second suspect in the prank continues. Sheriff's Maj. Mark Schrader said Thursday detectives are still following up on leads, but no other arrests have been made in the case as of yet.

"We're still helping the sheriff's office," Carbia said.