A 70-year-old Norwalk man was arrested Tuesday after he allegedly told police he had “dusted” three courts in Fairfield County and threatened to attack schools and railroad stations.

Frederick Forcellina was charged with threatening to use a weapon of mass destruction against the U.S. District Court offices in Stamford and Bridgeport and a court building in Norwalk, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

Prosecutors released a transcript of the call to Fairfield police.

“Operator, I’m telling you now that we have gotten together and we are disgusted with the way United States is doing things, and this is no idle talk,” the caller said. “My people have been bombed. Now we are doing a silent warfare. This is not a hoax.”

Meanwhile, at a news conference in Washington Tuesday, Attorney General John Ashcroft condemned anthrax hoaxes as “grotesque transgressions of the public trust.” He announced the indictment of a Connecticut man, Joseph Faryniarz, for making false statements to a federal agent in connection with a hoax at his place of work.

Prosecutors say Joseph Faryniarz sat quietly by as he and 800 fellow state workers were evacuated Oct. 11 during what he allegedly knew to be a false anthrax scare.

Faryniarz, 48, told security guards that he found a powdery substance on a paper towel near his computer. On the towel was the misspelled word “ANTHAX,” according to a criminal complaint.

Prosecutors said Faryniarz acknowledged he had been untruthful when first asked about the incident, and suggested two co-workers might have been involved even though he knew they were not.

–Associated Press