Gregory Meeks' Capitol Hill Office Evacuated After 'Suspicious Powder' Found; Was It Ricin?

A staffer in the office of Rep. Gregory W. Meeks, D-N.Y. notified authorities after finding white powder in a pile of mail in the liberal Democrat's Congressional office on Capitol Hill. Spokeswoman Candace Sandy told the New York Post that United States Capitol Police soon quarantined the office and investigated the substance.

"All test results are negative [for toxins]," read the email later sent to those affected on the Hill after police deemed the area safe and the substance benign.

The scare comes in the wake of an arrest in the ricin letters sent to a number of officials including Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss. James Everett Dutschke was arrested on suspicion of being the source of those letters which actually reportedly contained the toxic substance ricin. Charges against the original suspect, Paul Curtis, were dropped.