Thursday, Feb. 25, 2021 | 3:20 p.m.
A Las Vegas man with a decades-long gripe with the New York State Gaming Commission mailed the organization letters with white powder feared to be toxic, federal authorities allege.
The four letters Brent Carter sent between April 2019 and January were accompanied by harmless substances, including sugar, drywall powder and talcum powder, according to a criminal complaint filed by the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York. But they prompted serious hazmat responses, officials said.
Carter, 72, was charged this week with a count of false information and hoaxes, officials said.
In 1976, the commission temporarily suspended Carter from “competing in horse racing” while it investigated cheating allegations, according to the complaint.
Carter alleged gaming regulators denied him a career in horse racing, the complaint said.
Four days after the Oct. 1, 2017, Las Vegas mass shooting, Carter allegedly called the commission and left a message referencing the shooter missing them, the complaint said. He allegedly placed four other threatening calls, the complaint said.
Federal law enforcement officials interviewed him in October after they linked him to the first letters, the complaint said.
He told them he was trying to be funny, the complaint said.
Despite warnings from law enforcement officials not to do it again, Carter sent the fourth letter in late January, authorities said. A warrant for his arrest was issued earlier this month.
