Sneads man found guilty of anthrax threats

PANAMA CITY – A Sneads resident was found guilty Tuesday afternoon on three counts of conveying false and misleading information involving the unlawful use and threatened use of a weapon of mass destruction involving a biological agent and toxin, and a destructive device, federal prosecutors wrote in a news release.

Jamie Lee Wambles, 32, was also convicted of a fourth count of mailing threatening communications to a federal agent, involving the potential bombing of the Federal Courthouse in Tallahassee.

Evidence presented at trial revealed that on December 17, 2012, Wambles wrote his first threatening letter from a Jackson County jail facility to the Clerk’s Office at the Federal Courthouse in Tallahassee claiming it contained anthrax.  This letter was received at the courthouse by court security officers.  On December 18, 2012, Wambles wrote a second threatening letter to the Clerk’s Office at the same address with a white powder claiming it was anthrax.  It turned out to be finely crushed Tylenol pills, officials wrote. He wrote a third threatening letter on December 20, 2012, to the same Federal Courthouse, this time claiming he would bomb the building unless his demands were met.

Wambles was aggrieved over the shooting death of his pit bull during his state arrest and wanted the officers responsible to be investigated.

Finally, on  January 7, 2013, Wambles mailed a fourth letter to an FBI agent claiming he had the materials to bomb the Tallahassee Federal Courthouse if his concerns were not addressed, officials wrote. Wambles faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000.00 fine on each of the first three counts, and up to ten years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the fourth count.  The sentencing of Wambles is scheduled for August 29, 2013. Wambles is currently serving seven years in state prison on unrelated state firearm charges.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney James Ustynoski.