FBI Affidavit: Burner Phone, Library Wi-Fi and Walmart Records Led Agents to Oklahoma Man Charged in White Powder Letters to Election Offices

A sworn FBI affidavit says a cash-bought burner phone, logins from public library and university networks in Oklahoma City, and Walmart purchase records led agents to the 67-year-old man accused of mailing hundreds of letters containing white powder to election offices, members of Congress, pollsters, media outlets and the FBI.

Robin Patrick Martin of Oklahoma City is charged in a federal criminal complaint with conveying false or misleading information and hoaxes and with mailing threatening communications. He was arrested Monday and made his first court appearance Tuesday, according to the court docket. The Digital Free Press read the 33-page complaint and affidavit filed Nov. 1 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma. The charges are allegations, and Martin has not entered a plea.

What the Affidavit Says About the White Powder Letters

FBI Special Agent David Cole wrote that the case began in September 2024, when state election officials reported envelopes holding white powder and a three-page letter titled "DECLARATION OF WAR" from a group calling itself the "United States Traitor Elimination Army," or USTEA. According to the affidavit, that letter claimed President Donald Trump won the 2020 election and warned that "it won't be flour next time." Testing found the 2024 powder was not toxic.

A new wave began in October. The affidavit says more than 700 mailings appear to come from the same sender. They were postmarked at U.S. Postal Service processing centers in Oklahoma City on Oct. 9, North Texas on Oct. 10 and San Antonio on Oct. 13, and went to state election boards; Republican, Democratic and independent members of Congress; pollsters; media organizations; and the FBI. Lab results so far show the powders were yeast or flour, though not every letter had been intercepted or tested.

The 2026 envelopes carried an old return address once used by the Democratic Socialists of America. The affidavit says the group no longer uses that suite and has cooperated with investigators. According to the affidavit, an Oct. 11 email sent to a DSA mailing list from an account in the name "George Livingston" told members that voting would be "an additional overt act of treason" and claimed arrests would begin "on or before November 3rd." Letters to members of both parties and to election boards stated, "CIVIL WAR IS COMING ON NOVEMBER 3RD!!"

How Agents Say They Traced the Sender

According to the affidavit, Google records showed that Gmail account was created Aug. 2, 2026, from an internet address assigned to Oklahoma City's Metropolitan Library System. Its recovery phone number traced to a Motorola phone and a $35 Boost Mobile prepaid card bought with cash the same day at a Walmart Supercenter in northwest Oklahoma City. Walmart provided store video of an older man making the purchase, and an FBI biometric image examiner later named Martin as a possible match, the agent wrote.

Walmart records also showed Martin buying security envelopes and a booklet of stamps on Aug. 23, and earlier buying ground turmeric, white vinegar and povidone-iodine. The agent wrote that those items can be used to make invisible ink. Some 2026 envelopes carried hidden messages in UV-reactive ink.

Cell records for what the affidavit calls Martin's personal phone placed it near the Oklahoma City postal center about 8:50 p.m. on Oct. 9. Postal video showed a vehicle stopping at a blue collection box there for about 43 seconds at 8:53 p.m., and the letters were postmarked about 9:30 p.m. License plate readers and postal cameras later tracked Martin's 2024 Hyundai Sonata in Dallas and at the San Antonio processing center on Oct. 10, according to the affidavit.

What Comes Next

A magistrate judge ordered Martin held until a detention hearing and preliminary hearing set for 2 p.m. Nov. 9 in Oklahoma City, the docket shows. The court appointed two attorneys to represent him.

In a Justice Department release, FBI Director Kash Patel said the sender "had avoided authorities until now," adding that "the Biden administration failed to catch him."

Seeing election problems at your polling place? Contact The Digital Free Press at tips@thedigitalfreepress.com.

Sources: Criminal Complaint and Affidavit, United States v. Martin, No. 5:26-mj-00520 (W.D. Okla.), Dkt. 1, Nov. 1, 2026 (https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.okwd.139215/gov.uscourts.okwd.139215.1.0.pdf); Order of Temporary Detention, same case, Dkt. 11, Nov. 3, 2026 (https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.okwd.139215/gov.uscourts.okwd.139215.11.0.pdf); Court docket (https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/75063557/united-states-v-martin/); U.S. Department of Justice, "Oklahoma Man Charged in Connection with Sending Threatening Letters Containing Non-Toxic White Powder to Election and Government Officials Across the Country," Nov. 3, 2026 (https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/oklahoma-man-charged-connection-sending-threatening-letters-containing-non-toxic-white). Cover photo: "OK-OKC-USPO-courthouse-southwest" by Joel Bradshaw, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.