Cicero Man Sentenced to 33 Months in Prison for Sending Threatening Letters

A Cicero man has been sentenced to almost three years in federal prison after pleading guilty to felony charges for sending threatening letters to several government officials.

60-Year-old Brian Norton is facing up to 33 months in jail for conveying false information and carrying out a hoax.

From 1997 to 2011 Norton sent almost two dozen letters to officials including Robert Gates, who was the Defense Secretary at the time, Arizona Senator John McCain, and others.  Several schools in central New York received letters as well.

Although the envelopes in which the letters were sent contained an innocuous white powder, the notes written inside said that the powder was anthrax or ricin.  Both ricin and the bacteria that create anthrax can be lethal to human beings.

Norton's attorney, Edward Menkin of Syracuse, has said that Norton suffered from a previously undiagnosed mental illness.