An anthrax hoax that had as target over one hundred locations across the United States led to the short-term closure of U.S. Rep. George Radanovich's Modesto office and also to the arrest of a 66-year-old man.

Marc M. Keyser was accused of coast-to-coast mailings of more than 120 hoax anthrax packages nationwide, one addressed to the San Diego Union-Tribune counting among them.

Over the objections of a federal prosecutor, Keyser was released on bail. U.S. Magistrate Judge Kimberly J. Mueller ordered the Sacramento man be released on a $25,000 unsecured bond signed by him and co-signed by his sister and his brother-in-law.

Keyser was taken into custody on Wednesday after the Atlantic Monthly, an American magazine founded in Boston, received hoax anthrax threats via mail. As stated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the man’s arrest is unrelated to the powder hoax send out in the previous week to financial institutions.

Assistant United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner made fun of Keyser's allegation that his fervent plan was to inform people about the risks anthrax poses and the easiness with which it can be expanded. "I don't believe his motive is altruistic at all," he told the U.S. magistrate judge. He believes the man wanted to “draw enough attention to himself to generate traffic on his Web site so he can sell his book.” And according to Assistant Federal Defender Rachelle Barbour, Keyser wanted to inform society about how vulnerable people are.

At Friday’s court hearing, Wagner insisted that the anthrax hoax suspect could run away and also send other packages.