A Sacramento man was arrested Wednesday in the mailing of about 120 suspicious packages across the county, including one delivered to The Bee.

Marc M. Keyser, 66, was arrested on three counts of sending a hoax letter, the FBI said in a press release. He has an extensive record of being in trouble with authorities, including for once sending excrement through the mail.

Keyser was arrested without incident at his residence and is being held in Sacramento's downtown jail, according to FBI Special Agent Steve Dupre. Keyser will make an initial appearance in federal court Thursday.

The white substance powder in the packages has so far not tested as hazardous, the FBI said.

The FBI warned that more packages may show up in the next few days. They asked anyone receiving a package to preserve it and call the FBI office in their area.

The Sacramento Fire Department responded to at least four such calls about suspicious packages on Wednesday, including reports of packages received at The Bee and KCRA, said Capt. Jim Doucette, a spokesman for the fire department.

The Modesto Bee reported on its Web site that packages were sent to the Modesto office of U.S. Rep. George Radanovich, as well as locations in Washington, D.C., and Charlotte, N.C.

As of 2 p.m., Modesto authorities had removed the package from Radanovich's office. Two employees who were in the office have been released from the hospital and the office remains closed.

The package mailed to The Bee was opened by a newsroom employee about 2:30 p.m. She reported that the package contained a packet of a white substance stuck on a CD. An image imprinted on the CD showed former Secretary of State Colin Powell holding a vial, and the word "anthrax" was typewritten across the packet.

Also imprinted on the CD was the phrase "Anthrax Shock And Awe Terror."

Similar packages were received by targets across the country, the FBI said.

A preliminary test showed the substance in the package to be non-toxic, the Sacramento Fire Department reported.

The package's postmark indicated it was sent from West Sacramento on Monday. No phone number could be found for the company named on the return address. At that street address is a Sacramento apartment complex.

Earlier Wednesday, KCRA reported receiving a similar package.

No one was reported injured in any of the incidents.

Doucette said the package received at KCRA was sent to a lab for testing as a precaution. "There was nothing hazardous found in it," he said.

The FBI said packages were sent to more than 100 major media outlets across the country, the office of a national news magazine in Washington, D.C., and at least two restaurants in the Sacramento area.

Last week, three national financial institutions received suspicious packages. Those deliveries did not come from Sacramento, the FBI said.

Earlier this week, suspicious packages were sent to The Charlotte, N.C., Observer newspaper, a business in a Charlotte high-rise, and the New York newsroom of the Reuters news agency. All were found to be non-hazardous. The San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper reported late today receiving a similar package.

Keyser has been in trouble in the past over his actions, according to stories The Bee.

In 2004, the Elk Grove Police Department issued a scam alert against Keyser, who was going door to door soliciting donations to help protect the department from terrorist attacks.

Keyser said he was executive director of a group called the Police and Firefighters Auxiliary.

He had said then that increased security measures were needed outside the Police Department's administration building because terrorists could easily inject anthrax or cyanide into the building water supply.

In 1998, as president of a group called AIDS Action League, he sent fictitious letters out to 4,000 people, telling them they owed money and their credit rating was in jeopardy - an effort that made him the target of a U.S. Postal Service investigation for possible mail fraud and false billing. Keyser admitted the letters were fictitious.

The phone numbers listed in the letters belonged to companies that Keyser said he believed were hindering the fight against AIDS. He said he wanted the businesses to pressure then Gov. Pete Wilson to declare an AIDS state of emergency.

Keyser got involved in the protest movement during the debate over the Rancho Seco nuclear power plant in the 1980s, according to a 1998 Bee story.

He was in jail before when he and several others, including his ex-wife, were arrested for sending vials of excrement through the mail. The group was charged with pornography, but the charges were later dismissed, according to the Bee story.

He was a network administrator for KLIB 1110 AM from 2004 to 2007. In the past decade, he was also president or the contact person for a number of groups such as Business Terror Watch, Call And Save Taiwan, AIDS Initiative, AIDS Watch, Save Our Schools, Neighborhood Terror Watch, and Save Our Redwoods Inc., according to records.