Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
OGDEN, Utah (AP) -- The case of a threatening letter left on a 2nd District courthouse supervisor's desk, which prompted the woman to withdraw her application for a top administrative job, has been forwarded to FBI profilers in Virginia because of possible federal civil rights implications.
Officials were planning last week to turn results of the probe over to the Weber County attorney's office for possible charges -- potentially hate crimes charges. Instead, they have opted to take the FBI up on its offer to have behavioral analysts review the case files.
All the information and evidence gathered has been sent to the agency's Quantico, Va., headquarters, Weber County sheriff's Detective Sgt. Dale Bridges said Tuesday.
The process could take months, he said.
It is rare for the sheriff's office to use the FBI facilities at Quantico, and it happens only a few times a year for high-profile cases, Bridges said.
The letter was left on the woman's desk on March 2 and contained white supremacist rhetoric meant to intimidate the woman, who is Hispanic. She was one of three finalists for the clerk of court job and withdrew her application after receiving the letter. The hiring process is halted pending the outcome of the investigation.
The letter's contents, which included specifics about the job opening and other in-house details, have led investigators to believe that the writer was a courthouse employee or someone closely familiar with the building. The letter had no postage.
Officials have said that if a crime was committed, possible charges could include a state hate crime, threatening or interfering with a government operation, or federal civil rights violations.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
