The FBI has launched an investigation after mysterious packages containing food and a letter were sent to children at an Alabama elementary school.
Warning of a "predator alert," the Covington County district attorney's office said in a Facebook statement that the FBI reported that the children were among 50 girls in the U.S. to be sent such packages, which included letters signed by a person identifying as "Atur Bhuck of Santa Fe, NM."
"In the letters, Bhuck wrote that he was 14 years old, mentally disabled and a target of bullying," the district attorney's office said.
The office said the letters asked recipients to write Bhuck at atur.bhuck@gmail.com or atur.bhuck@aol.com.
The FBI told the district attorney's office that the IP address of the Gmail account associated with the first email appeared to originate from Houston, Texas, and said that packages were ordered from the same address to be delivered to minor girls in Alabama, South Carolina and Virginia.
"Each order included the name of the girl and the address of the elementary school she attends," the Covington County D.A. office said.
"The same IP address has also appeared on websites, including Misterpoll.com, discussing girls' underwear and types of music to listen to when he visits his pen pal in Phenix City, Alabama," the statement continued.
The office called on parents to "be aware, be vigilant and make sure your children are aware."
A spokesperson for the FBI's field office in Mobile, Alabama, which covers the Middle Judicial District of Alabama and the Southern Judicial District of Alabama, said the agency could neither confirm nor deny whether an investigation into the packages was under way.
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