New York Woman Sentenced for Mailing Threats to Senator Scott Brown and Attorney General Martha Coakley

BOSTON—A New York woman was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Springfield for sending threatening letters containing white powder to government offices in Massachusetts.

Roberta Cicora, 57, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Michael A. Ponsor to 27 months in prison and to pay $4,630 in restitution to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for HAZMAT services. In September 2012, Cicora pleaded guilty to mailing four threatening communications.

In May 2012, Cicora mailed threatening letters, which included an unknown white powder, to United States Senator Scott Brown, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, and the District Court in Greenfield, Massachusetts. Cicora also sent a threatening letter to the Franklin County House of Correction in Greenfield. Cicora’s white powder letters caused the offices that received them to close down until HAZMAT teams responded and determined that the letters did not pose a lethal threat to the safety of the workers.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Richard DesLauriers, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Boston Field Division; Kevin Niland, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; and Colonel Timothy Alben, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police, made the announcement today. The case was investigated by the FBI in Springfield, Massachusetts and Albany, New York; the Postal Inspection Service in Springfield; the Massachusetts State Police Assigned to Attorney General Martha Coakley’s Springfield Office; and the New York State Police. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin O’Regan of Ortiz’s Springfield Office.