Mail bomb suspect will remain jailed
Sayoc to be transferred to New York City to face criminal charges after Friday hearing
Mail bomb suspect Cesar Sayoc will agree to remain jailed — for now — and to be transferred to New York City to face criminal charges he targeted prominent Democrats and other critics of President Donald Trump, his defense attorney said Thursday.
That means an appearance Friday morning in federal court in Miami will be more of a formality than was expected.
Sayoc, a former male stripper, pizza deliveryman and DJ, had previously indicated he wanted to try to persuade a magistrate judge to release him on bond and to contest his extradition to New York.
But after federal prosecutors filed court documents listing additional evidence and more details of the case they are building against him, Sayoc decided he will agree to stay locked up and wait until he is moved to New York before he makes any big decisions about how to handle the case against him, his attorney Jamie Benjamin said.
“It’s better to let the federal public defenders who are going to represent him in New York have the detention hearing there, if they think that’s appropriate,” Benjamin said. “We thought it was important to not let it all steamroll over the defendant so we wanted to preserve his rights and have all the relevant information before making this decision.”
Sayoc, 56, will have to appear in federal court in Miami for the hearing at 10 a.m. Friday. A judge is expected to order that he will be detained without bond. He could be moved to New York any time after the hearing.
So far, he faces five federal charges and a maximum punishment of 48 years in prison, prosecutors wrote in court documents. Sayoc probably will be indicted on additional charges linked to the 15 explosive devices investigators say he mailed to targets.
Sayoc was arrested Oct. 26 in Plantation near the white van that investigators said he lived in. It’s also believed he built the pipe bombs inside the van, which was covered in proTrump and anti-Democrat stickers.
Since his arrest, prosecutors said they believe that Sayoc began planning what they call a domestic terror attack in July. Several of the 15 devices contained shards of glass that were intended to cause maximum harm to the intended victims, they also revealed
Law enforcement sources said Sayoc also had a hit list of more than 100 people, including an editor at The New York Times.