Federal prosecutors charged Robin Patrick Martin, 67, of Oklahoma City, with sending threatening letters containing white powder to election officials, members of Congress and others, the Justice Department said on Nov. 3. The powder was not hazardous.
The white powder letters charged in the complaint went to state election boards, state secretary of state offices, the FBI, pollsters and media organizations, the release says. FBI agents arrested Martin on Nov. 2, one day before Election Day and 20 days after the Oklahoma State Election Board told the FBI it had received a letter, a calculation from the release’s dates.
What the Charges Say
Martin faces charges of conveying false or misleading information and hoaxes and of mailing threatening communications, the Justice Department said. He appeared Nov. 3 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Shon Erwin in Oklahoma City. The charges are allegations, and the release does not report a plea. The department describes the mailings as hundreds of letters. FBI Director Kash Patel put the figure at well over 100 locations in his statement in the release, so the two descriptions differ in scale and neither gives an exact count.
How the Investigation Unfolded
The FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service had investigated similar letters since 2024, the release says. On Oct. 13, 2026, the Oklahoma State Election Board told the FBI it had received a threatening letter containing white powder. Investigators concluded that letter was one of hundreds sent across the country.
Testing found the powder non-hazardous, and postal inspectors recovered most of the mailings before they were delivered, according to the release. The investigation ran for roughly two years before an arrest, and the arrest followed less than three weeks after the Oklahoma report, a calculation from the release’s dates.
What Officials Said
John Eisenberg, the assistant attorney general for national security, called the mailings “a calculated attempt to terrorize public servants.” U.S. Capitol Police Chief Michael Sullivan said the agency will not tolerate anyone who tries to use fear as a weapon. Martin is presumed innocent, and the charges are allegations. Postal inspectors recovered most of the mailings before they reached recipients.
