E-mail threat to LV came from computer with public access

Jace Radke

Monday, Jan. 26, 2004 | 9:15 a.m.

An anonymous e-mail threatening Las Vegas originated from a publicly accessible computer in Carson City, an FBI investigation has found.

The e-mail, originally sent to the White House in December, predicted 11 suicide bombers on Las Vegas streets and the death of "the leader of Nevada," according to sources close to the investigation.

The investigation into the source of the e-mail has been closed because there are no records as to who may have been using the computer that the e-mail originated from, FBI officials said.

E-mail accounts can be accessed from publicly used computers and false information can be used to establish e-mail accounts, making it difficult to track those who send threats, law enforcement officials said.

Jerry Bussell, Nevada homeland security adviser, who would not comment on the content of the e-mail, said the fact that the FBI closed the investigation speaks for itself.

"There was nothing to corroborate the threat in the e-mail," Bussell said. "It was not a specific, credible threat."

The e-mail also stated that the "Nevada capital will burn," and that the "walls of a green hotel will fall." It was passed on to the FBI and to state officials by the Department of Homeland Security on Dec. 31, sources said.

The e-mail did not mention New Year's or any specific date, hotels or streets, sources said.

Clark County Sheriff Bill Young said he never saw the e-mail and didn't learn about it until the media informed him of it. He described the e-mail as a "non-event" and said he would have been notified if it had been determined to be any kind of credible threat to Clark County.

The public might never have learned of the e-mail had Gov. Kenny Guinn not referred to it in passing during a question-and-answer session after a speech to the local chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties in Las Vegas on Jan. 15.

"The most serious threat that we got was to a very small city that went all the way to the White House," Guinn told the conventioneers.

Guinn said the threat came from within the United States and was not linked to the terrorist group al-Qaida. Guinn said there is always the possibility of more "Timothy McVeighs," so even small towns have to be vigilant.

Guinn's spokesman, Greg Bortolin, said that at the time Guinn was trying to make the point that there were no specific threats against Las Vegas.

Guinn told the Sun after the Q&A session that there is always the chance that there are other McVeighs who want to hurt the United States. McVeigh was put to death for the 1995 bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building that killed 168 people.

The country was put on high alert on Dec. 21, and high-profile cities around the country -- including Las Vegas, Los Angeles and New York -- beefed up security at public New Year's Eve parties and at public venues such as airports.

The Homeland Security Department lowered the threat level to yellow, or elevated, on Jan. 9, and Metro Police and other agencies followed suit, lowering the local threat level to yellow.