Carson City Sheriff: Packaged powder mailed to homes determined to be lemonade
There's been three instances of a marketing scheme where powdered lemonade was packaged in envelopes and sent via mail to Carson City residents, Sheriff Ken Furlong confirmed.
The receivers of the envelopes contacted dispatch, where the Carson City Fire Department, hazmat and sheriff's deputies responded. Tests were made on the substance and the finding showed that it was powdered lemonade that was packaged as part of a real estate marketing scheme.
"It appears to be a poorly done scheme where people were sent a letter asking if they were going to sell their homes and inside was packaged lemonade and some of it leaked out," said Furlong.
Word of the envelopes surfaced Sunday on social media where some made claims it was fentanyl. That's clearly not the case, the sheriff said.
The effort now is to find out which company sent them the letters and ask them to stop because they've created fear among the recipients. It is unknown at this time which company is sending the envelopes or whether it's local, national or international.
On the upside, the sheriff noted the citizens did the right thing reporting what they found.
"People are alert and we saw it being fostered here," he said.