What to Know
- Daniel Frisiello, 25, of Beverly, was arrested on March 1 after law enforcement connected him to mailing suspicious envelopes
- The envelopes contained suspicious white powder and notes indicating that the substance was dangerous to high profile individuals
- Among those that received the envelopes were Trump family members, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, attorney Nicola Hanna, and professor Michele Dauber
A Massachusetts man charged with mailing a mysterious white powder to several people, including Donald Trump Jr., has agreed to plead guilty.
Daniel Frisiello, 25, of Beverly, has agreed to plead guilty to 13 counts of mailing a threat to injure the person of another and six counts of false information and hoaxes, according to Andrew Lelling, U.S. attorney for Massachusetts.
Frisiello was arrested on March 1 after law enforcement connected him to mailing envelopes that contained suspicious white powder and notes indicating that the substance was dangerous to high profile individuals.
Authorities said the envelopes had "notable commonalities," including a Boston postmark. One victim received a "glitter bomb," which through investigation was traced back to Frisiello through financial records, according to investigators.
In February, one of the letters addressed to Donald Trump Jr. was opened by his wife, Vanessa Trump, who reported she was coughing and felt nauseous. She was briefly hospitalized, although the substance turned out to be nonhazardous.
It was not the first time a Trump has received white powder in the mail. In March 2016, police detectives and FBI agents investigated a threatening letter sent to the Manhattan apartment of Donald Trump Jr.'s brother, Eric, that also contained a white powder that turned out to be harmless. Envelopes containing white powder were also sent to Trump Tower twice in 2016.
U.S. & World
Other recipients included Debbie Stabenow, the Democratic U.S. senator from Michigan; Nicola Hanna, an interim U.S. attorney in California; and Michele Dauber, a Stanford University law professor who has promoted the effort to recall the judge who presided over the Brock Turner sexual assault case.
Since being arrested in March, Frisiello has remained in home detention under restrictions.
It's unclear when he will appear in court to face the charges or if he has an attorney. If convicted, Frisiello could face a sentence of no greater than five years in prison, or 10 years in prison for threats addressed to a federal official, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000.
