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Cops Say Inmate Who Threatened Justin Bieber Made Anthrax Hoax

Barre District Courthouse
WAMC/Pat Bradley
Barre District Courthouse

Police say a Vermont inmate who hatched a plot to kill Justin Bieber was behind an anthrax scare at the courthouse where he was sentenced for killing a 15-year-old girl.

The Barre VT courthouse received an envelope on Wednesday containing white powder and a note claiming it was anthrax. It carried the return address of the Delaware prison where 48-year-old Dana Martin is serving 35 years to life for the 2000 murder.

Police Chief Tim Bombardier said Thursday that Martin told prison officials the envelope contained foot powder.

In 2012, when Martin was being held in New Mexico, he sent two men to kill Bieber, Bieber's bodyguard and two other people in Vermont. No one was hurt. Martin pleaded guilty to criminal solicitation to commit first-degree murder.

Bombardier says it's unlikely Martin will be charged in the latest case.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.