A Florida man with a long criminal history was charged Friday in the nationwide mail-bomb scare targeting prominent Democrats who have traded criticism with President Donald Trump. It was a first break in a case that has seized the national conversation and spread fear of election-season violence with little precedent in the U.S.
Justice Department officials revealed that a latent fingerprint found on one package helped them identify their suspect as Cesar Sayoc, 56, of Aventura, Florida. The criminal complaint charges Sayoc with illegally mailing explosives, illegally transporting explosives across state lines, making threats against former presidents, assaulting federal officers and threatening interstate commerce.
Court records show Sayoc, an amateur body builder with social media accounts that denigrate Democrats and praise Trump, has a history of arrests for theft, illegal steroids possession and a 2002 charge of making a bomb threat.
The development came amid a nationwide manhunt for the person responsible for at least 13 explosive devices addressed to prominent Democrats including former President Barack Obama, former Vice President Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton. The case continued widening Friday even as Sayoc was detained, as investigators in California scrutinized a similar package sent to Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris, her office said.
Reporter: Why were the bomb scares targeting Democrats?
Sessions: “I don’t know, other than what you might normally expect. He appears to be been partisan..”pic.twitter.com/TqPGa35YxS
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) October 26, 2018
In Washington, Attorney General Jeff Sessions cautioned that Sayoc had only been charged, not convicted. But he said, “Let this be a lesson to anyone regardless of their political beliefs that we will bring the full force of law against anyone who attempts to use threats, intimidation and outright violence to further an agenda. We will find you, we will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.”
In Florida, law enforcement officers were seen on television examining a white van, its windows covered with an assortment of stickers, outside the Plantation auto parts store. Authorities covered the vehicle with a blue tarp and took it away on the back of a flatbed truck.
The stickers included images of Trump, American flags and what appeared to be logos of the Republican National Committee and CNN, though the writing surrounding those images was unclear.
JUST IN: FBI: Fingerprint found on a pipe bomb package that was sent to Rep. Waters of California was determined to be from the suspect, Cesar Sayoc Jr. pic.twitter.com/6fQsWeMLJI
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) October 26, 2018
Trump, after Sayoc was apprehended, declared that “we must never allow political violence take root in America” and Americans “must unify.” As in comments earlier in the week, he did not mention that the package recipients were all Democrats or officials in Obama’s administration, in addition to CNN, a news network he criticizes almost daily.
Earlier Friday, he complained that “this ‘bomb’ stuff” was taking attention away from the upcoming election and said critics were wrongly blaming him and his heated rhetoric.
FBI Director Wray: 13 IEDs were sent to various individuals across the country. Each device consisted of roughly 6 inches of PVC pipe, a small clock, a battery, some wiring and what is known as energetic material.
“These are not hoax devices.”pic.twitter.com/pEj7ARs0kD
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) October 26, 2018
The Justice Department scheduled a Friday afternoon news conference in Washington that was to include New York Police Commissioner James O’Neill, whose department investigated the mailings with the FBI.
Law enforcement officials said they had intercepted a dozen packages in states across the country. None had exploded, and it wasn’t immediately clear if they were intended to cause physical harm or simply sow fear and anxiety.
Earlier Friday, authorities said suspicious packages addressed to New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and former National Intelligence Director James Clapper — both similar to those containing pipe bombs sent to other prominent critics of Trump— had been intercepted.
President Trump to media after the suspect in the mail-bomb scare is arrested: “I can do the greatest thing for our country, and on the networks, it will show bad.”pic.twitter.com/RP3qCIjv8F
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) October 26, 2018
Investigators believe the mailings were staggered. The U.S. Postal Service searched their facilities 48 hours ago and the most recent packages didn’t turn up. Officials don’t think they were sitting in the system without being spotted. They were working to determine for sure. The officials spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.
Online court records show that Sayoc in 2002 was arrested and served a year of probation for a felony charge of threatening to throw or place a bomb. No further details were available about the case.
Sayoc was convicted in 2014 for grand theft and misdemeanor theft of less than $300, and in 2013 for battery. In 2004, he faced several felony charges for possession of a synthetic anabolic-androgenic steroid. He also had several arrests for theft in the 1990s.
Social media photos show mail bombing suspect Cesar Sayoc attending Trump rally https://t.co/K4O58SgOPK pic.twitter.com/Bpi2mHSAek
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) October 26, 2018
He filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2012, informing the court he had $4,175 in personal property and more than $21,000 in debts. His name is also listed on business records tied to dry cleaning and catering businesses. Records show he was born in New York and according to an online resume he attended college in North Carolina.
“Debtor lives with mother, owns no furniture,” Sayoc’s lawyer indicated in a property list.
Investigators were analyzing the innards of the crude devices to reveal whether they were intended to detonate or simply sow fear just before Election Day.
Law enforcement officials told The Associated Press that the devices, containing timers and batteries, were not rigged to explode upon opening. But they were uncertain whether the devices were poorly designed or never intended to cause physical harm.
Most of those targeted were past or present U.S. officials, but one was sent to actor Robert De Niro and billionaire George Soros. The bombs have been sent across the country – from New York, Delaware and Washington, D.C., to Florida and California, where Rep. Maxine Waters was targeted. They bore the return address of Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee.
The common thread among the bomb targets was obvious: their critical words for Trump and his frequent, harsher criticism in return.
Who Is Cesar Sayoc? Currently in Custody in Florida in the Nationwide Mail Bomb Package Case – https://t.co/K4O58SypHi pic.twitter.com/xFFLuK5rwY
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) October 26, 2018
The package to Clapper was addressed to him at CNN’s Midtown Manhattan address. Clapper, a frequent Trump critic, told CNN that he was not surprised he was targeted and that he considered the actions “definitely domestic terrorism.”
The devices were packaged in manila envelopes and carried U.S. postage stamps. They were being examined by technicians at the FBI’s forensic lab in Quantico, Virginia.
The packages stoked nationwide tensions ahead of the Nov. 6 election to determine control of Congress — a campaign both major political parties have described in near-apocalyptic terms. Politicians from both parties used the threats to decry a toxic political climate and lay blame.
The bombs are about 6 inches (15 centimeters) long and packed with powder and broken glass, according to a law enforcement official who viewed X-ray images. The official said the devices were made from PVC pipe and covered with black tape.
The first bomb discovered was delivered Monday to the suburban New York compound of Soros, a major contributor to Democratic causes. Soros has called Trump’s presidency “dangerous.”
(AP)
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28 Responses
Not one of them went off? Yawn.
The headline should read “Alleged package bomber… ”
Just because the police, even the FBI, say you are a criminal doesn’t make you one. They are under pressure to make an arrest, and all that is certain is they have arrested someone. In high profile cases (e.g. the “Anthrax” letters a few years ago, they failed to arrest the person responsible and arrrested someone who turned out to be uninvolved.
Let’s hope that this is indeed the guy, because the next one might go off, and the person killed would most likely be an innocent postal worker just sorting the mail (possibly even a registered Republican, for you hyper-partisan types).
Let’s wait for the press conference before making any emotional comments.
What new conspiracy theory will Moshe in Golus and all the Trump apologists concoct, now that the MAGA bomber has been caught?
1 ( YAWN?) Do you say that about the terror attacks from Gaza and the West Bank that don’t kill anybody ?
The man is a full-fledged despicable terrorist and deserves the same righteous anger that you have for the Muslim Terrorists.
The trouble is that the MSM and the psychotic and morally challenged Dems will characterize the crime as that of supporting Trump. The bomb thing is secondary. The rational mind says to punish crime, not political affiliation. I detest the Democratic Party and its policies. But I cannot advocate punishing them for that. I will let my ballot do what it can. But crime needs to result in arrest and prosecution, regardless of someone’s beliefs and political opinions.
This fellow, if convicted, should face the most severe consequences. No mercy here.
This guy is a demented crazy man. Who has a a history from years ago making threats.
No worries Cesar.
They won’t sentence you to as many years as Rubashkin.
Lets not forget that just this past week Trump praised a congressman for the act of physically assaulting a reporter. Trump has encouraged violence at many of his rallies and has labeled people as enemies of the state.
Golfer – yep especially if Trump pardons him like he pardoned Rubashkin.
I did some web searches. The web claims as follows:
– going back to the 1990’s the guy has at least 20 past criminal arrests in Florida alone including drugs and grand theft and threats of violence (bombs)
– he self-identifies as being “of Irish, Phillipine and Native American descent”
– one blog posts an image claiming that the image comes from his 2015 arrest record for theft (thus before his 2016 registration as Republican) and it clearly states him as Democrat (of course I do not know if that is a genuine image – anyone here know how to get the arrest record on-line, it is after all normally public information)
This morning I read that he shouldn’t be charged with mailing bombs since none of them went off.
This guy is no doubt is on Soros’s payroll. The whole thing looks like a bad script from Hollywood written specifically to impress idiots like crazykanoiy and others. Remember two Democratic operatives who lost their jobs after James O’Keefe Project Veritas sting in 2016?
crazykanoiy, Since you want to state the news, let’s comment about it fairly and unbiased from both sides, okay? You mentioned your side of Republicans, now I will comment about Democrats of recent past.
– Former Democratic Attorney General Eric Holder- “‘When they go low, we kick them'”
– California Democratic Senator Maxine Waters “”Let’s make sure we show up wherever we have to show up and if you see anybody from that Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd and you push back on them, and you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere.”
-Letter sent this week to NJ Republican Jay Webber threatening to violently harm him and his children (Police arrested a suspect this week, who belongs to the D Party. I can’t quote all of it on YWN because of vulgarity). ““You BETTER hope that you don’t win! Or else. How many kids do you have . . . 7? Unlucky 7. That is what we think of you. Time to get out of politics.””
How fast we forget an incident when Bernie Sanders personally gave a SKS rifle to his supporter Mr. Hodgkinson and send him to shoot Steve Scalise and other Republicans in Alexandria, Virginia.
To crazy kanoiy u r a sick liberal who is willing to indict every republican for what any nut job does but will never do the same to liberals who are much worse such Maximilian waters who encouraged mobs to antagonize republicans and they do exactly as she says somehow that never concerns any of you lefties. We don’t need apologists but you sure do
Tremendous credit and thanks to the people of the law enforcement services.
“None of them went off”, so that means you probably wouldn’t mind getting one in your mailbox?
That’s like saying Hinckley’s attempted assassination of President Reagan was “yawn” because he shot and only wounded him! What is wrong with people?
TGI Shabbos – I have absolutely no problem calling out any Democrat who espouses violence. They are wrong and deserve blame. Congresswomen -not senator – Waters and AG Holder are 100% wrong for using such rhethoric but so is TRUMP who uses such vile rhethoric on a constant basis and is the ONLY one to have actually praised an actual violent criminal act. What is repulsive is that so many Trump supporters will always defend every abhorrent and disgusting act of his.
Lets see “taking a break” and “moshe in golus” who spew righteous indignation at maxine waters call out Trump for his violent comments.
Moshe In Golus – Once again spreading reckless unfounded allegations without a shard of evidence. Blaming George Soros for receiving a bomb to his own house. Sicking. Blaming Bernie Sanders for the shooting of Steve Scalisce. Disgusting. Stop reading infowars and other right wing nonsense and get in touch with reality.
To 1 and Moishein Galus:
Since you jerks think these devices are just some toys from George Soros, than we shouldn’t worry if we read that they showed up in your mailboxes and you haven’t posted here on YWN in a few days.
Jackk, none of the contents in the packages had the ability to kill anyone.
Also, he’s more native American than Elizabeth Warren.
Rt not the same at all. Steve Scalise was actually shot by someone. This is just trolling. There was no explosive mechanism. He’ll get punished more than he deserves because of the crazed lib frenzy.
crazykanoiy, i got your crazy hypocritical logic. It is OK to blame Trump for act of crazies but not Bernie Sanders? No wander you share your avatar name with crazies like Cesar Sayoc.
Gadolhadorah, you are too dump even to read official FBI report on so called ‘bombs’.
Fake news
Moshe In Golus – you accused Bernie Sanders of “personally giving a SKS rifle” to the man who shot Steve Scalisce. That is a lie. That is disgusting. I pointed out that Trump praised a congressman who assaulted a reporter and was found criminaly guilty for the act. That is a fact and we should not forget that. Though the truth may hurt there is no hypocrisy there.
crazykanoiy, you are too crazy to realize that i was trying to expose liberal absurdity by using your tactics. Apparently leftists are too stupid or too hypocrite or both.
Moshe in Golus: Stop beating around the push and stop changing the subject. Plain and simple is Trump wrong for using violent rhetoric and praising the physical assault of a reporter? Be a man and answer the question with a yes and no without rambling on with all types of conspiracy theories about the “libs” and “mainstream media”