There was a time during the anthrax probe that the head of the FBI investigation advocated indicting scientist Steven Hatfill. One of the things that bothered some investigators was that Hatfill was taking Cipro at the time of the letter attacks. But the U.S. Attorney’s office shot down any suggestions of an indictment.
By LARA JAKES JORDAN
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Pharmacy records and writings initially _ but wrongly _ helped lead the FBI to Army scientist Steven Hatfill in the 2001 anthrax attacks, Justice Department documents released Tuesday show.
Responding to a judge’s order, the government released 78 pages of affidavits and search warrants in the now-closed case of Hatfill, who was cleared of the attacks earlier this year. The documents raise questions about Hatfill but provide no evidence that he masterminded the biological attacks that killed five people, sickened 17 and frightened a nation still shaken by the deaths of 9/11 only a few weeks earlier.
Ultimately, the government focused on another Army scientist: Bruce Ivins, who killed himself in July as prosecutors prepared to charge him in the case. Both Ivins and Hatfill worked at the Army’s infectious diseases laboratory in Frederick, Md. Hatfill was never charged, and the Justice Department in June agreed to pay him $5.8 million to settle a lawsuit he brought against the government for wrongly implicating him.
