Police: Suspicious letters sent to 5 hospitals a hoax

By Stewart Bishop, Globe Correspondent

Investigators have determined that threatening letters sent to five Boston hospitals are part of a hoax that poses no real danger, police said.

Boston police and fire hazardous material response teams responded to the hospitals today after employees at each facility reported receiving a suspicious letter.

"At this time, it appears to be a hoax," said police spokesman James Kenneally. "The reason they have been deemed threatening or suspicious is because of things written on the outside of the letters."

Investigators did not find any powders or other dangerous materials inside the letters. The three letters are similar, and investigators have determined that they came from a single source, Kenneally said.

The first report of a suspicious letter came from New England Baptist Hospital on Parker Hill Avenue at 11:12 a.m., according to Boston Fire Department spokesman Stephen MacDonald. The next report came at 11:55 a.m. from Boston Medical Center, and the third at 12:41 p.m. from Brigham and Women's Hospital, MacDonald said.

A fourth suspicious letter arrived at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center at 2 p.m., according to spokeswoman Zineb Marchoudi. The fifth went to Tufts Medical Center.

At New England Baptist Hospital, mailroom employees and security personnel noticed "angry-looking writing" and other oddities on the envelope and decided to contact authorities, according to Erin McDonough, the hospital's vice president of public affairs.

The letters will be taken to the state laboratory for analysis, McDonald said. Police and fire departments continue to investigate.

At Brigham and Women's, the suspicious envelope was taken from the mail room and given to a police officer working a road detail on Vining Street, according to hospital spokesman Peter Brown. Emergency responders closed a portion of Vining Street for 30 minutes.

"There was no effect on activities inside the hospital at all," Brown said, and the hazmat teams have cleared the scene.