Unknown substance in envelope caused ‘panic’ at UnitedHealthcare location in Las Vegas

A Las Vegas woman was arrested last month after she allegedly sent an envelope that included a “black and yellow substance” to a UnitedHealthcare location in the west valley.

Jennifer Forbes, 50, was arrested June 28, according to a Metropolitan Police Department report, and charged with two felonies — one for making a false terrorist threat and one for dispersing a hoax substance.

According to the report, a mail room employee at UnitedHealthcare’s complex at 2720 N. Tenaya Way became concerned after opening an 8x10 envelope that contained an “unknown black and yellow substance” at around 9 a.m. on June 24.

The employee told police that a note inside the envelope “stated something related to a fungus and flesh-eating bacteria,” according to the report.

Shortly after, another UnitedHealthcare employee contacted Metro and promptly decided to “cease all operations” at the location for “half a day,” the report said.

Metro’s All-Hazard Regional Multi-Agency Operations and Response section was called in to investigate, though the unit’s forensic findings were redacted in Forbes’ declaration of arrest report.

Investigators found that Forbes’ name appeared on the envelope and UnitedHealthcare representatives later identified her as a UnitedHealthcare “client.”

At around 2 p.m. that day, police went to an address associated with Forbes, where they found her uncle, who said Forbes lived in a “mobile home” on the property.

Forbes admitted to an officer that she had written a letter to UnitedHealthcare, though she later became uncooperative, according to the report. Forbes was arrested following a traffic stop in northeast Las Vegas.

She was taken to the Clark County Detention Center following the arrest. As of Thursday evening, she remained jailed at the facility, according to online records.

In the arrest report, Metro investigators concluded that Forbes “knowingly mailed a note and intentionally layered the note with an unknown substance that caused mental anguish, alarm, caused a reasonable person to believe they were contaminated by or exposed to a biological, chemical, radioactive, or other lethal agent…”

In an interview with police on June 24, the UnitedHealthcare employee who opened the envelope said she became “scared” and noted the murder last year of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City.

Forbes, according to court records, is scheduled for a preliminary hearing before Las Vegas Justice Court Judge Kristal Bradford on July 15.

Contact Bryan Horwath at bhorwath@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BryanHorwath on X.