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SACRAMENTO (AP) ― A federal grand jury indicted a Sacramento man Thursday on 13 charges related to a series of anthrax scares across the country that turned out to be hoaxes.

Marc Keyser, 66, was indicted on 10 counts of hoax mailings and three counts of mailing threatening communications. He has yet to enter a plea and remains free on $25,000 bond.

He was arrested Oct. 29 after several newspapers, other media outlets, businesses and a congressman received threatening packages in the mail.

Prosecutors say they contained a computer disk labeled "Anthrax Shock and Awe Terror" and a packet of a grainy substance with a biohazard symbol and the words "Anthrax sample." In many cases, newspapers reported that the substance turned out to be sugar.

According to the federal complaint filed in the case, some of the packages had Keyser's return address and agents found 11 more packets when they searched his car.

Reached Thursday at his home, Keyser said he believes the nation has become lax about the threat of terrorism and said the mailings were "an act of conscience."

"I feel we are just as unprepared and vulnerable as ever. The nation is in a state of denial," Keyser said in a telephone interview. "I have taken a stand. I have warned the nation."

He compared himself to Martin Luther, who was excommunicated for his indictment of the Roman Catholic Church in 1517. Luther's act of defiance eventually was credited with sparking the Protestant Reformation.

Keyser said he mailed "what I call my terror thesis with a harmless package of sugar" to draw attention to his blog and a book he published on the Web.

Among other concerns, he fears a few limited terror attacks would lead to a mass panic. He contends Osama bin Laden's real goal with the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks was to bankrupt the nation by drawing it into wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Keyser's attorney, Assistant Federal Defender Rachelle Barbour, did not return a telephone message Thursday. His next scheduled court appearance is Nov. 19.

Prosecutors say the harmless packages created a public danger by diverting emergency workers and investigators and by causing anxiety and disruption.

The indictment charges Keyser with hoax mailings to the Modesto office of Republican Rep. George Radanovich, as well as a McDonald's and Starbucks in Sacramento. They also went to newspapers that included The Sacramento Bee, San Jose Mercury News, Orange County Register, The Star Tribune of Minneapolis, The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Ky., the Boston Herald, the Christian Science Monitor and The Providence Journal in Rhode Island.

Other media outlets in Sacramento, North Carolina and Washington state also received the packages.

The indictment charges Keyser with sending the Sacramento News & Review, an alternative newspaper, a similar package in 2007. Keyser was investigated at the time, but federal prosecutors declined to file charges after he promised not to do it again.

Prosecutors say he told the FBI last month that he had mailed more than 100 packages in late October.

The three charges of sending threatening communications include last year's mailing to the News & Review, and the mailings to the McDonald's and Starbucks.

Twelve of the charges each carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Mailing a threatening letter to Radanovich's office carries a possible 10-year prison term because he is a congressman.

Keyser wouldn't say if he is prepared to face years in prison if he is convicted, nor would he rule out future mailings.

"I've taken a stand. I don't know that I've made the point," he said.

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