Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Handling) Airman Jennifer Grimes receives an anthrax vaccination from Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class David Logan aboard the multi-purpose amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7). Iwo Jima is deployed as part of the Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group supporting maritime security operations in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Chad R. Erdmann/Released)

The Los Angeles Times has an exclusive story today suggesting that noted microbiologist Bruce Ivins had become a suspect in the 2001 anthrax murders. It further reports that Ivins has apparently committed suicide.

This comes on the heels of the government’s settlement with another scientist, Steven Hatfill, paying him over the next years $5.82 million for invading his privacy and ruining his career.

The story does not address the FBI investigation into Dr. Kenneth Berry, which we have covered extensively here. Dr. Berry has never been charged, either.

The LA Times story is very short on named sources, exactly the type of media attention that helped win Dr. Hatfill his money. The press’s record for reporting on the murders is full of errors due solely to their reliance upon anonymous sources. We know that most of the information leaked in the first months of the investigation was incorrect. It may be that the reports about Dr. Ivins are, as well.

The sloppiness of the technicians involved with the investigation is already known. At least two people contracted an anthrax infection due to their poor lab procedures while handling samples. Dr. Ivins was investigated for some poor lab practices as well, but that does not equate to his being the murderer. Nor does his apparent suicide equate to guilt. He was a proud man, with his job in doubt and expenses piling up. Understandable depression is not guilt.

The FBI has been using the media to attack people they view as “persons of interest” without regard to the normal protocols of criminal investigation and without regard to the damages caused these people by the leaks. The media, the LA Times, are cooperating in this character assassination with little regard for journalistic ethics or human decency.

Wizbang has some good links for Bruce Ivins, his scholarship and scientific stature.

Steven Hatfill has settled his claims against the Federal Government and the FBI for the sum of $2.825 million, CNN reports.

Hatfill, a former Army bioweapons researcher, has steadfastly denied involvement in the attacks and was never charged in the investigation.

In a statement released Friday afternoon, department officials said Steven Hatfill will receive a one-time payment of $2.825 million and a $150,000 annuity.

For all intents and purposes, this investigation is over. Seven years after the attacks and the FBI is no closer to determining who committed those murders than they were then.

The FBI has let us down. By focusing on Hatfill to the exclusion of other potential suspects, and by excluding state-sponsored terror from the very beginning, they failed to conduct a proper investigation. This was a case that any rookie detective could have followed procedure and process and investigated.

Instead we got leak after leak that was flat out wrong. We got a focus on one person, an abusive and punitive investigation that was leaked at every step to the media. Steven Hatfill was tried by media when the FBI was unable to discover any evidence linking him to the attacks.

Hatfill is not the only person ruined by the FBI in this botched investigation. Kenneth Berry lost everything and the FBI came up with zilch.

I wonder how the families of the five people murdered in these attack feel tonight? Where is their justice? Can the FBI explain to them why no one is in jail?

Washington Post

What was initially described as a near-military-grade biological weapon was ultimately found to have had a more ordinary pedigree, containing no additives and no signs of special processing to make the anthrax bacteria more deadly, law enforcement officials confirmed. In addition, the strain of anthrax used in the attacks has turned out to be more common than was initially believed, the officials said.

As a result, after a very public focus on government scientists as the likely source of the attacks, the FBI is today casting a far wider net, as investigators face the daunting prospect of an almost endless list of possible suspects in scores of countries around the globe.

“There is no significant signature in the powder that points to a domestic source,” said one scientist who has extensively studied the tan, talc-like material that paralyzed much of Washington in the deadliest bioterrorism attack in U.S. history.

Let’s review:

1. Weaponized, in part or in total – NO
2. Obtained domesticly, probably at Fort Detrich – NO
3. Suspects are Hatfill and Berry – Unlikely

Back to square one, it seems, and five years have gone past. Maybe the FBI will devote a little time to the possible Iraqi links.

I think we need some of the CSI’s on TV to tackle the unsolved murders by anthrax from five years ago.

I’ve written about this mess for years and rightly have pestered the FBI for their handling of this case. They have left far too many questions unanswered. Two men, Dr. Hatfill and Dr. Berry have had their professional lives ruined. Millions of dollars have been spent on preventing another such attack, and on thousands and thousands of false alarms.

Here’s what I wrote in 2003.

In addition, the CDC and the FBI have failed to explain the isolated and unrelated anthrax deaths of Kathy T. Nguyen and Ottilie Lundgren. Both ladies had no direct exposure to any of the letters. The best notion that the experts can come up with is that they were exposed by mail that had been exposed to the original letters. Nonsense! The limited number of actual infections due to direct exposure to the letters suggests that the anthrax was not that infectious. To then suggest that two people, and only two people were fatally exposed to infectious levels of anthrax spores through second or third hand exposure is laughable. If there were enough anthrax spores in the general mail to kill these two women, how come no one else got infected? Surely there had to be dozens of immunocompromised individuals, easily infected, exposed to the same quantities of spores as these two ladies. No, there is far more to this story, and the FBI may have thoroughly mucked up the trail, and failed in its investigation.

Five people were murdered by whoever did this. I think it’s time for the FBI to make public much of its investigation so that we, their employers, can be assured that every effort has been made to find the killer(s). The many questions around this case need to be answered for us all. Did one of the 9/11 hijackers get treated for anthrax in Florida? Where did the anthrax spores originate and were any of the samples “weaponized”? Why have all foreign sources and sponsors been ruled out? How exactly did Kathy T. Nguyen and Ottilie Lundgren become infected without anyone else becoming ill?

It was 2001. The CIA let us down. The FBI let us down. Is this yet another example of CYA in action?

I thought they might be too optimistic. This guy is in serious doo doo.

WNBC

Diomande, 44, had been listed in stable condition at Robert Packer Hospital in Sayre, Pa., just south of the New York border. But in a statement issued Friday, the hospital said the patient had “experienced increased difficulty breathing during the course of the day, resulting in a change in his condition to serious.”

At City Hall, Bloomberg revealed that testing had indicated the presence of low levels of anthrax at the Brooklyn warehouse and at Diomande’s apartment in Greenwich Village.

But the mayor insisted the finding “is not a surprise and should not cause alarm.” Both sites, he added, would undergo an extensive cleanup.

City officials again emphasized that the treatment with antibiotics of the seven people who may have been exposed to the hides — including members of Diomande’s family and a fellow craftsman — was only a precaution, and that investigators had found no evidence of any serious threat to public health.

Diomande, a drum maker and dancer, traveled in December to Ivory Coast, in West Africa, and returned with several goat hides he used to make drums. He began feeling flu-like symtoms in January before collapsing last week after performing with his dance company in Mansfield, Pa.

Before his downturn, Dimonde had helped investigators retrace his steps. “He talked extensively,” the mayor said. “He was very forthcoming exactly where he went, what he did, how he got the hides — all of that.”

Final comment: Anthrax is not contagious. What if it had been Ebola?

UPDATE FIVE: AP via Yahoo

Authorities said Wednesday the infection appeared to be accidental — not terrorism — and did not pose a serious public health threat. Vado Diomande, 44, had traveled recently to the west coast of Africa and fell ill in Pennsylvania last week shortly after he returned to this country with some hides, authorities said.

It was not exactly clear how Diomande came into contact with the deadly substance, or whether it happened in Africa or in this country. But aides to Mayor Michael Bloomberg said it was related to his job making drums from animal skins.

At least four other people may have been exposed to anthrax spores, including a family member of the infected man who worked with the hides, and three were being treated with antibiotics, city Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden said. “Every indication suggests that this is naturally occurring anthrax,” Frieden said.

Authorities were also screening for contaminants at the man’s rented work area in Brooklyn, in his vehicle and in his Manhattan apartment, Bloomberg said. [snip]

Frieden said Diomande was breathing on his own and appeared to be “doing better than people with respiratory anthrax usually do.”

Diomande has been a dancer and drummer since he was a child, according to a Web site for his dance troupe. When he was a teenager he danced with the National Ballet of the Ivory Coast and toured all over the world. He founded his own dance company in 1989, the Web site said.

Authorities said they were not concerned that the transport of the hides or the finished drums to the U.S. posed any health risk, because they believe Diomande was infected while treating and working with the materials.

At the Pennsylvania university where he collapsed, students were informed about the anthrax case but were assured they were not in danger. About 100 people attended the performance, according to Terri Day, a university spokesman.

UPDATE FOUR: NY Times

A drum-maker who imports raw animal hides from Africa has been infected with anthrax in what is believed to be an isolated accident that poses no public health threat, officials said Wednesday.

The man traveled in December to Ivory Coast in west Africa and became ill shortly after his return, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. There was no evidence of any criminal intent or terrorist connection, the mayor said.

The man collapsed after performing last week with a dance company, Kotchegna, at the Steadman Theatre in Mansfield, Pa., according to Pennsylvania Department of Health Secretary Dr. Calvin B. Johnson.

On Feb. 17, blood tests were taken and by Feb. 20, the tests began to indicate the possible presence of anthrax. He is in stable condition at the Robert Packer Hospital in Sayre, Pa., just south of the New York border.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the 44-year-old man had worked with the animal hides at a work space in the DUMBO section of Brooklyn. At least four other people may have been exposed to anthrax spores and three are being treated with antibiotics, city Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden said.

UPDATE THREE: If this story continues as it seems, I would suggest all the employees at that drum factory are in danger, and anyone in their household is also in danger. Why? Kathy T. Nguyen and Ottilie Lundgren.

My previous anthrax posts

In addition, the CDC and the FBI have failed to explain the isolated and unrelated anthrax deaths of Kathy T. Nguyen and Ottilie Lundgren. Both ladies had no direct exposure to any of the letters. The best notion that the experts can come up with is that they were exposed by mail that had been exposed to the original letters. Nonsense! The limited number of actual infections due to direct exposure to the letters suggests that the anthrax was not that infectious. To then suggest that two people, and only two people were fatally exposed to infectious levels of anthrax spores through second or third hand exposure is laughable. If there were enough anthrax spores in the general mail to kill these two women, how come no one else got infected? Surely there had to be dozens of immunocompromised individuals, easily infected, exposed to the same quantities of spores as these two ladies. No, there is far more to this story, and the FBI may have thoroughly mucked up the trail, and failed in its investigation.

UPDATE TWO: WCBS

The man traveled recently to the west coast of Africa and became ill after his return. He worked at a factory in the Dumbo section of Brooklyn nearby the Manhattan Bridge where drums are made from animal skins.

“This is an isolated case. There is no evidence at this time of any criminal intent associated with this. There is no reason to connect it to terrorism of any kind.” said Mayor Michael Bloomberg at a City Hall news conference.

The mayor said the one man was injured, and is recovering in a hospital in Sayre, Pennsylvania. He resides in the West Village section of Manhattan where the mayor said police and other investigators were inspectiing his residence.

Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Frieden said it was a single case of inhalated anthrax. He said the patient is stable and doing well considering the serious bacteria in his body. He is in intensive care at the hospital in Pennsylvania but he is breathing on his own.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said there is no need at this time to evacuate people from the factory or the area around it. He said all appropriate city and federal authorities were notified and made the determination the case was unrelated to terrorism.

Bloomberg said the man, identified only at being 44 years old and a native of Africa, returned from a trip to the African nation of Ivory Coast and brought back with him some untreated animal skins, those of goats and other hides.

How’d he get them through Customs?

UPDATE ONE: OK, here’s one report of anthrax in west Africa.

ORIGINAL POST:
WNBC

A New York City man has been hospitalized after inhaling anthrax, but officials believe it was accidental and not related to terrorism, NewsChannel 4′s Jonathan Dienst reported Wednesday.

The man traveled recently to the west coast of Africa and became ill shortly after his return, said a federal law enforcement official, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The official said the anthrax may have been on animal skins.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly were expected to discuss the case at a City Hall news conference. Aides to the mayor said only the one man was injured, and was recovering in a hospital in Sayre, Pa.

It was not clear how the man came into contact with the deadly substance, but mayor’s aides said it was related to his job and that federal and city officials traced the exposure to New York City after the man became ill in Pennsylvania.

The victim lives in Manhattan and works in Brooklyn. NewsChannel 4 was told the victim is a musician who makes musical instruments out of animal pelts, which can be a natural source for anthrax. Investigators said they might search his business location later Wednesday to further determine the exact cause of the accidental inhalation.

I bet they “might” search his business!! You’d think that folks over there would be dropping like flies if it was in the hides. The hospital is Robert Packer, once a community hospital punching above its weight, but now a regional powerhouse in the NY Pennsylvania border region.

The great diseases that our ancestors feared are gone. Smallpox, plague, typhus, polio, measles. Yet people still carry fear of great diseases. People fear the avian flu as much as they might the Black Death. Why? Because the public health Mafia have decided that it is the latest “disease du jour”. Because the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control, and every Tom, Dick and Harry have decided to issue “cautionary” and “advisory” statements where none are warranted.

It’s irresponsible for public health authorities to use “maybe’s” in order to drum up funds for their projects. The fact of the matter is that public health is funded in all the wrong places, a place of kingdom building and shiny toys. Self promotion has become the sole reason to exist in far too many places. Billions have been spent on bioterrorism prevention, with the result that public health agencies nationwide have new labs, new computers, new departments with department heads, aides and secretaries.

As an EMT I am just as likely to discover a case of smallpox when I run duty on Sunday as I was on September 10, 2001. And I am equally as unprotected.

The powers that be in public health talk a good talk. But, as the flu vaccine shortage last year demonstrates, they are woefully unprepared to take on their original mandate, to protect the public from disease. The true public health authorities in this country are the family doctors, EMS professionals and Emergency Department staff who actually see and treat the sick.

Every single public health agency in this country has enough directors, aides, secretaries and media information staff to handle any sort of disease outbreak. What they lack, have lacked, and continue to lack, are feet on the street. Investigators, epidemiologists, people who are out in the community every single day. New computers are no more likely to resolve an outbreak of avian flu than they are to resolve the teen pregnancy problem. People will do that, feet on the street.

Avian flu has been recognized since 1997. In all that time, less than 200 people have died from it. Nearly all of those people worked directly with poultry. Person-to-person transmission is almost unknown. As of this moment, no scientist anywhere has a shred of evidence that avian flu will be the next pandemic. But, boy, they all sure do want to get a lot of money to study the situation. Venality and greed, not danger, is the name of this game.

This guy was the subject of FBI raids last year, and I blogged about him several times.

Wellsville Daily Reporter

n his first interview since the national spotlight was pointed at Wellsville during the August anthrax investigation, Berry talked to The Daily Reporter about his current legal battles and the FBI.

“(The FBI investigation) totally destroyed my life. I lost my reputation, my wife, my family, my son, my job … everything,” he said.

The FBI has not said if it found any traces of anthrax, and it has not charged Berry in connection with anthrax. The FBI was in and out of Wellsville in one day.

However, his wife, Tana, from whom he is now separated, said she was not surprised the FBI showed up at the door that Thursday morning.

“He knew he was being investigated, he knew it would happen sooner or later, he knew a search warrant was coming,” said Tana.

When asked if the FBI investigation was a waste of time, she said, “That’s not obvious, not to me anyway.”

When asked to further explain, Tana said “no comment.” [snip]

“The most important thing is child custody of my son,” he said. “Basically, my wife is trying to deny I am the father of my son. He is (my son). I am her husband.”

Both parties agree on one thing, Tana was married to someone else during the pregnancy. However, the accusations start to fly after that.

Berry claims labor and delivery records along with birth certificates are missing from Jones Memorial Hospital in Wellsville, where he was the emergency room doctor from December of 1996 to October of 2001. Hospital officials did not return calls seeking comment.

“She had this whole thing set up four years ago including falsification of the birth certificates,” claims Berry. “I remember when the baby was born, the date, the time and the nurse.”

Tana countered, “That’s news to me and totally ludicrous.”

Berry has worked at a hospital in Pittsburgh, commuting by plane while living in Wellsville. He was married and had seven children from two relationships.

WGRZ Channel 2

Sources from within the law enforcement community tell Channel 2 News that federal authorities are “not excited” about what they found while searching the home of Dr. Kenneth Berry in the Village of Wellsville as well as his parents summer home in New Jersey.

The information does not give a concrete idea of what investigators found (or did not find) but it strongly reinforces what Channel 2 News has been hearing since the searches last Thursday — that Dr. Berry is, by no means, a prime suspect in the deadly anthrax attacks in the fall of 2001.

Times Herald

There are indications that Dr. Berry did things somewhat differently. His primary residence is Wellsville yet he has not had privileges at Jones Memorial Hospital since 2001 ‘ he has commuted to work at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in McKeesport, Pa. His past includes a criminal forgery case in which he pleaded to a lesser charge and there is a hint of self-promotion in materials touting his background as an expert in responding to large-scale medical emergencies, such as a biological attack.

Nevertheless, assuming we are still operating under the premise that all are innocent until proven guilty, one could question the treatment he and his family received at the hands of federal authorities the past few days. Rather than quietly search the properties, agents swooped into Wellsville and created a public spectacle, a spectacle that only an idiot wouldn’t have been able to anticipate.

If investigators had anything solid on Dr. Berry or anyone else in relation to the anthrax letters, one assumes they would have been charged. So far, all we have is a heavy-handed display which could be interpreted by some as cheap theatrics.

Hornell Evening Tribune

Helms does not see how Berry can go back to work at any hospital or work in his chosen field of counter terrorism.

“The FBI owes him an apology, big-time,” said Helms. “They harmed him and it looks like they harmed his family. I like both the agents who are primaries in this area – they also questioned me, because I am a webmaster for Preempt.org.” Helms said the web site has not been updated in a while. Not many people in Wellsville have said they were close friends with Berry, and many neighbors really didn’t know him. But Helms said that is not unusual.

“He worked at the hospital, he worked in counter terrorism. He didn’t have time to make a lot of friends, but the ones he did make are very loyal,” said Helms. “You won’t find a lot of (people who were) friends with Ken Berry … and ones he work with call him an S.O.B., but they call me that, too! Anyone who has anyone who worked for someone will have something bad said about them.”

Helms said Berry cold not be tied to mailing out anthrax letters in 2001. “Want a practical reason? He was getting ready to get married!” Helms says emphatically.

Helms also defends Berry’s character. “I think they have damaged his reputation to the point the United States has lost a wonderful asset,” said Helms. “He was a true American asset, if not a national treasure. “He’s a little unusual but most brilliant people are different. And he’s different,” Helms continued. “You get underneath that and he’s got a heart the size of Texas for an American.”

The head scratching continues about this “person of interest” [my term] for the FBI. A medical doctor has e-mailed me with his thoughts, and please note his final comment:

This guy is a zero. The American Univ of the Caribbean is a fifth pathway school — guys from the East Coast go there when they can’t get into a US medical school, and they then try to transfer to an American med school (the “fifth pathway”) prior to graduation. Used to work some (the Carter administration tried to make it mandatory for US med schools to accept fifth pathway transfers, but the med schools told them to shove it). But in the last decade or so transfers are almost completely shut down.

So our bright boy graduates from AUC. He is NOT going to get a good residency in the states in any specialty. St. Joseph’s Med Ctr — which St. Joe’s, there are a number of them. He did a community hospital residency in family medicine, probably a free-standing residency not affiliated with a university. Ick. Training is mediocre, more like an apprenticeship, with (mostly) a non-dedicated teaching staff and relatively few opportunities to distinguish himself.

Regardless, he gets a certification in family medicine. I’d like to know what the 2nd residency was all about. The AMA page doesn’t specify the order of residencies done, so I don’t know if the surgery residency was first (and he asked to leave) or second. But he’s not a certified surgeon, so he obviously didn’t complete it. And “Wilson Memorial Regional Medical Center” isn’t a stellar residency, either (Googled it to Johnston City, NY).

Rex is correct, there is no specialty training in WMD per se. Physicians with expertise in biologicals generally would be infectious disease specialists. For any, the Emergency Medicine docs would be expected to have good, basic knowledge in triage and treatment, but they wouldn’t be expected to have in-depth knowledge as to pathophysiology, research, etc.

Rex is also correct in noting that, especially for small hospitals in rural America, a family medicine doc who wanted to be an ER “specialist” could be one. Emergency Medicine as a specialty is a new idea, but their residency programs are cranking out graduates. Those new docs tend to cluster in better-supported, more desirable places to live. But if he wanted to be an ER doc in Wellsville, he could do it.[snip]

There is no “Board of Certification of Emergency Medicine.” There IS an American Board of Emergency Medicine, a member of the American Board of Medical Specialties. The ABMS certifies doctors in their specialties after training, and the ABEM would do the certifying of emergency medicine docs.

Go here for a description of their Board of Directors. It seems that one of the requirements is that you’re EM certified, which Dr. Berry apparently isn’t. He’s also not a graduate of an ACGME-certified (ACGME = American Council of Graduate Medical Education, which certifies the training programs) EM program, according to his bio.[snip]

I ran Dr. Berry’s name through PubMed, the interface for the National Library of Medicine, a premier search engine for health care. It lists and indexes every single article published in every medical and biological sciences journal that is indexed, and that’s a big list. “Berry KM” brings up 2 listings, neither of which is our guy.

In simple terms, Chuck: I think this guy stinks to high heaven.

Here’s where we stand.

• Dr. Berry’s public CV has some inaccurate names for groups that he should know the correct names of.
• He is not published in any manner that we can discover.
• His CV lists nothing that would qualify him to be an expert on WMD.
• Dr. Berry’s CV lists nothing that would have allowed him access to anthrax spores.
• His CV lists nothing that would make him in any way expert enough to be a part of the Flight 800 crash investigation, other than in a very minor role.

Let’s keep in mind that the FBI and the Postal Inspectors investigate a variety of crimes other than terrorism, and that the anthrax murders could involve other crimes. Is it possible that crimes such as mail fraud, extortion, or filing a false instrument might occur in the context of these murders? On the other hand, the problems with Dr. Berry’s past might all resolve if we postulate that he spent some time as a government employee which he cannot list on his CV for some odd reason.

Dr. Berry has not, as far as I know, been charged with a federal crime. And there may be very satisfactory answers to our questions about his CV. And… yes, he did not graduate for a prestigious medical school but that does not make him a bad doctor. So, he still remains a mystery to us.

Here’s a guy who, out of no where, springs up as an expert on WMD. Nearly all we know about him is on his own web site. There are no cites on-line for publications or conferences or speeches other than on his site.

His bio is just a little off. Organizations that he belongs to have names that yield no web site but are similar to actual credentialling groups. There is no listing in his bio of where he did his internship or any residencies, things that very often appear in a medical doctor’s bio.

I quote an e-mail that I received:

I notice that his is not board certified in Emergency Medicine on his CV which, at least, which would raise questions about his being a member of the board of Emergency Medicine Certification.

Two people who know him well describe him as “different”. That’s a term that bodes ill.

PREEMPT, the group he founded, appears to have only been active for three years or so and the only cites are at his web site.

Ed Lake, who has investigated the anthrax murders extensively, discovered that Dr. Berry filed for U.S. Patent 6,710,711 on September 28, 2001. This is for

A surveillance system and method for identifying chemical, biological or nuclear attacks or hazards occurring within a large area which combines data derived from a modeling and simulation operation with a surveillance data input. The modeling and simulation operation involves continuous periodic runs of multiple scenarios for various biological, chemical and nuclear agents in various concentrations for a given location. Using real time weather data for each location, a model is made in a database of the effect various concentrations of agents would have at that location and this simulated model is processed. The surveillance data input monitors actual human signs and symptoms for the modeled area. This data with real time weather data is compared with the results of modeling and simulation data for the area to determine if a pattern matching that for any modeled agent is present.

There is no reason for a person’s life to be all over the Internet. Most Americans are as invisible as Dr. Berry. It is just curious that a man who presents himself as an expert in a widely studied area, WMD, and as a published author, is invisible. There is about a decade that is not available to us yet. He would have gotten his M.D. around 1984-1986, and he went to work in Wellsville in 1996. He says that he had several medical student clerkships, primarily at Yale, which I assume was before he got his M.D.

Where did he study WMD? Where did he work before Wellsville? How did he become involved with the July 1996 TWA flight 800 crash in Long Island, NY investigation, and what were his credentials to do so?

This is all speculation. There are, undoubtedly, good answers to all my questions. There is nothing on the public record to suggest Dr. Berry’s involvement with the anthrax murders.

The FBI appears to have turned its investigation of the anthrax murders away from Dr. Steven Hatfill. The searches in Wellsville today appear to be focused on Kenneth Berry, M.D. He is the founder of a group called PREEMPT.

WOKR-TV says

(Wellsville, NY) 08/05/04 – A home in Wellsville was searched by the FBI and the US Postal Inspection Service Thursday.

Police said it is part of an investigation into the 2001 anthrax cases.

The home belongs to the founder of an organization that trains medical professionals to respond to chemical and biological attacks.

It’s not known what prompted the search or what they were looking for.

PREEMPT also advocated the mass inoculation of all American civilians for anthrax. The organization does not appear to currently be in operation.

Dr. Berry is specifically identified in this report from WHEC-TV

WELLSVILLE, N.Y. (AP) – Federal agents investigating the deadly 2001 anthrax attacks on Thursday searched homes belonging to the founder of an anti-terrorism organization that trains medical professionals to respond to chemical and biological attacks. More than three dozen agents, some in protective suits, combed through two homes in this Allegany County village in western New York. Property records list the homes as the past and present addresses of Dr. Kenneth Berry, 48, who founded PREEMPT Medical Counter-Terrorism, Inc. in 1997.

UPDATE:

Dr. Berry is frustrating me. Google is no help at all. Other than the PREEMPT references, there is nothing. In his bio he mentions being president of the American Academy of Emergency Physicians and member of the board and special counsel to the chair of the Board of Certification in Emergency Medicine. Google does not show any reference to those exact organizations. Searches of sites with similar names do not turn up any reference to Dr. Berry. In another bio, he is stated to be multi-instrument rated as a commercial pilot, and is an aviation medical examiner with the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA says that he has a private pilot’s license..

I am just not finding information that ought to be there. The man’s bio has groups that have no web sites? Or, he somehow got the name wrong for a group that he was president of? Other than his statements that he is an expert in WMD on the PREEMPT site, I can find no sign that he exists in the community of scholars. His schedule listed on the site ends in 2000. He is not listed on the web sites of either Jones Memorial Hospital or St. James Mercy Hospital, the only hospitals in the area.

Who is this guy?

UPDATE 8-6-2004 a.m.:

Dr. Berry was arrested by local police in New Jersey after a family altercation. The NY Post has this and other info from the New Jersey searches.

The Wellsville Daily Reporter has an article up. Some highlights:

Berry is not originally from Wellsville, but he was charged by New York State Police with felony forgery in 1999.[sic] On March 17, 1999, he entered a guilty plea to a violation, a misdemeanor. He was accused of signing a fake will of the late Dr. Andrew Colletta, who died in May of 1998 at the age of 46.

At the time, Allegany County District Attorney Terry Parker, who prosecuted the case, said, “Ideally, if he were any other individual who had done this, I would have insisted on a misdemeanor. However, any criminal conviction would have resulted in him losing his medical license and never practicing again. As far as society was concerned, that would not be appropriate … he does a lot of good for society with what he does.”

Last week, the Wellsville Code Enforcement Office sent a violation to Dr. Berry for having two junk cars on his property. Village officials in Wellsville said Berry called and said the vehicles belonged to his daughter’s boyfriend and they were going to be removed.

Former Jones Memorial Hospital Chief Operation Officer William DiBerardino said he saw Dr. Berry last week.

“I don’t know what to think, this is hard to believe,” said DiBerardino. “I talked to him a couple weeks ago at Music on the Lawn, we talked about flying. Most of our conversations seemed to end up about flying because I love flying and he has been flying for years.

“He was different. He was a decent doctor by all accounts, so, how do you explain different?” DiBerardino added.

Dr. Berry’s next door neighbor, Bob Kosciewicz said “I last saw him last week … this is a shock. This is surprising. He’s a very quiet person.

“I don’t picture him as a terrorist or anything like that,” said Kosciewicz. “I understand he has a plane and he flies to where ever. He was on one of those rent-a-doctor deals, and he flew all over the place. I punched up his resume and saw his credentials, it was pretty impressive.”

“I don’t see him too often because he works other places so often,” Kosciewicz continued. “They lived next door for about three years. The family left for vacation, and I thought he had some work in Pittsburgh. But I don’t know where he works exactly … he was different, but I always liked him.”

More when I learn it.

WNBC

The FBI and Postal Inspection Service on Thursday searched locations in Newark and Wellsville, N.Y., in connection with the deadly 2001 anthrax attacks, the FBI said.

The searches began and would probably be completed on Thursday, said Ed Cogswell, an FBI spokesman in Washington. He said he did not know what sort of locations were being searched, and said the supporting information for the search warrants was sealed.

No arrests have been made, he said. He declined to provide further details about the searches. “It’s part of the investigative effort. I can’t go beyond that,” Cogswell said.

Anthrax mailings killed five people and sickened 17 in autumn 2001. Some of the anthrax-tainted letters were processed at a postal facility in Hamilton. There were five confirmed anthrax infections and two suspected cases in New Jersey, but no fatalities.

New Jersey State Police were providing support to federal authorities in a search in New Jersey, Trooper Stephen Jones said, but declined to say where. “There is no present danger to public health or safety,” said Joe Parris, an FBI supervisory special agent in Washington.

Wellsville is in Allegany County in western New York State.

I lived for twelve years just over the hill from Wellsville. I wonder if any of the loveable wackos I know are involved???

UPDATE:

Over 30 FBI agents friom Buffalo, Maryland and Pennsylvania closed down two streets in Wellsville because of what they call an “anthrax investigation incident.” They are searching the Pearl Street home of a Wellsville resident and his old apartment on Maple Avenue. Agents have removed boxes and bags from the apartment and were searching through the resident’s home with white glove. More updates to follow on www.wellsvilledaily.com.

Wellsville Daily Reporter