Friday, August 06, 2004

Still working on that Anthrax investigation

Dr. Ken Berry was arrested and released on bail. Two of his houses were searched. And God only knows what's up here, but it's wacky enough.

"From what I know, he's a fine, conscientious physician who always had the interest of his patients at heart," said Joseph Pelych, the lawyer who represented Berry in that case. "I find it hard to believe he would be involved in" anthrax.
ABC article

Mr. Berry must have had a different lawyer in 1997.

Berry pleaded guilty in 1999 to disorderly conduct to settle charges of forgery. State police said Berry's signature was on a fake will of the late Dr. Andrew Colletta, according to The Wellsville Daily Reporter. While initially charged with two counts of second-degree forgery, the plea to a lesser violation allowed him to keep his medical license.


A senior Justice Department official who declined to be identified downplayed the significance of the searches. The effort, the official said, was "more about trying to clear the guy than anything else."
Seattle Times article

Apparently Dr. Berry had founded a company to train people in counter-terrorism dealing with biological agents in 1997, citing "experts" who predicted an anthrax attack in the U.S.

There's some funny business in this whole case, and has been since the beginning. Another doctor, Steven Hatfill, who had worked at Ft. Detrick (the source of the anthrax) and was engaged in some implicating activities (and had written a strange coincidental (?) novel), and who may have been framed - or not - seems to have managed to deflect further investigation, and sued the FBI, Ashcroft, and the New York Times over the deal.

Don't expect any reliable answers in this investigation.

....or hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

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