U.S. Capitol Police are investigating a series of hoax e-mails sent out this week that falsely reported the deaths of at least three Democratic Senators: Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Dianne Feinstein of California, and Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey.
The New York Times, which was one of several news outlets to receive an erroneous e-mail on Tuesday, reports:
The hoax messages were sent to various news organizations, including The New York Times, which received the notice about Mr. Leahy, and said that the senators had died of liver cancer.
A close look at the detailed header of the message makes clear that it did not originate from the Senate computer system but rather from an outside domain, 000.webhost.com -- a sign that government computers were not hacked.
Leahy, meanwhile, was alive and well back in his home state. Despite the bizarre nature of the matter, the Vermont Democrat was said to be "in good humor" after he was informed of the situation.
The Burlington Free Press reports that Leahy spokesman David Carle suggested the fake e-mails were produced as if they had been written by Senate staffers -- in the Vermont Senator's case, a former intern who had nothing to do with the false report.
The hoax e-mail regarding Feinstein, suggested the California Senator passed away of cancer at her San Francisco home, while the fake note bringing news of Lautenberg's death indicated he died at his home in Newark.
Kimberly Schneider, a spokeswoman for U.S. Capitol Police, confirmed to Politico that police are probing the hoax death report e-mails, but did not offer any further details of the investigation.