South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Suspect’s van designed to keep people away
Inside the van of suspected mail bomber Cesar Altieri Sayoc Jr. sat devices of the unexpected kind: Two dome - shaped gadgets perched on the dashboard that flash red whenever someone walks by.
They’re devices that were either motion-activated cameras — or more likely, fake ones designed to look like them. The hoax ones sell for as little as $8 online, meant to scare potential intruders away.
An up-close look at the domed devices is seen on cellphone footage shot by a Plantation man who walked around Sayoc’s van in July to film everything. Michael Hebert, a 37-year-old Air Force veteran, recorded the van’s exterior while it was parked at an LA Fitness gym in Oakland Park.
Walking by the white van’s dashboard, Hebert noticed the domed devices’ red lights activate. “I’m filming. His cameras film me, we’re filming each other,” Hebert narrated for his cellphone video. “I see you.”
Hebert started seeing Sayoc at his gym in the evening hours, beginning in June. Sometimes he saw Sayoc working out, other times it seemed like he was just hanging out.
The sheer volume of stickers that seemed to be covering up the van seemed curious enough that it spurred Hebert to press record. Hebert said through the military, he had worked on security details for U.S. notables, such as Hillary Clinton while overseas, and was trained to recognize anything out of the ordinary.
The dashboard “cameras” struck Hebert as fakes. In a sepa- rate cellphone recording of the van, Hebert mentioned how they likely were fakes.
“In my experience, I would say those were generic/fake to keep people from tampering with his vehicle,” said Hebert, who now works in pharmaceuticals.
Sayoc’s van has been burglarized numerous times, Broward County law enforcement records show.
At that same LA Fitness where Hebert filmed Sayoc’s van, Sayoc reported to police in May 2015 that nearly $45,000 worth of his property was stolen from the van. It was one of at least five burglaries to his van that he reported between 2015 and 2017.
Among the items he said were missing: computer equipment, kitchen appliance, dresses and costumes he used for his business and a “Donald Trump fur.”
He reported another burglary from his vehicle less than two weeks later on Mayo Street in Hollywood. That time, his car tag had been taken.
ageggis@sunsentinel.com, 561-243-6624, or @AnneBoca.