Law officers on the East Coast have arrested a man on charges he sent letters threatening to blow up businesses in Iowa and several other states. Authorities say 32-year-old Rafael Santiago, of New Jersey, has confessed to sending the letters which were sent to the headquarters of several companies, including J.C. Penney in Wisconsin, Nintendo America in Washington state and in Iowa — Communications Data Services, based in Boone. The letter received there Monday contained a white powder that was later identified as baking soda, but it forced the evacuation of 300 C-D-S workers, about three-dozen of whom had to be decontaminated. The letters threatened suicide bombers would kill everyone in the various companies, and President Bush. Reports say Santiago’s a self-proclaimed worshiper of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. If convicted, Santiago faces ten years in federal prison and a quarter-million dollar fine.
