Prosecutors to Urge Probation for Man Who Mailed Rat Poison

Prosecutors are recommending that a judge Wednesday sentence a Claremont man to probation for sending rat poison to county officials in Chatsworth and elsewhere.

Martin Calvin Yarbrough Jr., 50, pleaded guilty last year to 13 misdemeanor counts of mailing injurious materials in violation of federal law, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Yarbrough acknowledged mailing small quantities of rat and roach poison to the (DCFS) and the Edmund D. Edelman Children's Court over a period of about 18 months, according to his plea agreement.

There were no injuries, but facilities were evacuated and hazardous materials teams from multiple agencies responded to each incident, officials said.

Yarbrough admitted during a previous hearing that he sent the envelopes out of increasing anger directed at DCFS over its handling of a case involving his nephew in the 1990s.

Federal prosecutors recommend in court papers that U.S. District Judge A. Howard Matz sentence Yarbrough to a period of five years probation, including mental health treatment and weapons restrictions.

Each letter contained either a white powdery substance or a bluish granular substance later determined to be a chemical poison, prosecutors said.

Mailed between November 2008 and May 2010, the letters were sent to DCFS offices in Covina, Lancaster, El Monte, Chatsworth, Los Angeles, Santa Fe Springs, Pomona and Monterey Park.

When employees at each of the facilities opened the envelopes and discovered the powder, the facilities were evacuated. During each incident, hazardous materials teams, as well as the FBI's Weapons of Mass Destruction Coordinator, responded to conduct field testing to determine if the powder represented a threat.

-- City News Service