Man charged after bomb-package scare

A man with a long criminal history was charged in the mail-bomb scare targeting prominent Democrats.

WASHINGTON >> A Florida man with a long criminal history was charged Friday in the nationwide mail-bomb scare targeting prominent Democrats who traded criticism with President Donald Trump, a significant break in a case that seized the national conversation and spread fear of election-season violence with little precedent in the U.S.

Justice Department officials announced five federal charges against Cesar Sayoc, 56, of Aventura, Florida, and revealed that DNA and a fingerprint found on a package helped them identify the suspect after a five-day investigation that heightened unease with each additional explosive discovery.

None of the bombs exploded, but FBI Director Chris Wray said Friday, “These are not hoax devices.”

Sayoc, an amateur body builder who 16 years earlier was on probation for a bomb threat charge, has social media accounts that vilify Democrats and praise the president. Misspellings from his online posts matched mistakes found on the packages, according to an 11page criminal complaint .

He registered as a Republican in Florida in March 2016, before the election that sent Trump to the White House, and voted early in subsequent elections, according to officials.

Friday’s arrest capped a nationwide manhunt for the sender of 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 with new 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 Trump critics. Even as Sayoc was detained, investigators in California scrutinized a package sent to Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris, her office said.

Trump, after Sayoc was apprehended, declared that “we must never allow political violence take root in America” and that Americans “must unify.”

That marked a change in tone from his Twitter post earlier Friday complaining that “this ‘bomb’ stuff” was taking attention away from the upcoming election and that critics were wrongly blaming him and his heated rhetoric for stoking violence.

In his remarks after the arrest, as in his comments throughout the week, Trump 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.

Sayoc was arrested near an auto parts store in Plantation, Florida, north of Miami. Across the street, Thomas Fiori, a former federal law enforcement officer, said he heard a small explosion — possibly a “flash-bang” device police use as a distraction — and saw about 50 armed officers swarm a man standing outside a white van. They ordered Sayoc to the ground, Fiori said, and he did not resist.

“He had that look of, ‘I’m done, I surrender,’” Fiori said.

Officers were later seen examining the van, its windows covered with stickers. 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.

Law enforcement officials told the AP 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.

WPLG-TV VIA AP FBI agents covering a van after the tarp fell off as it was transported from Plantation, Fla., on Friday that federal agents and police officers have been examining in connection with package bombs that were sent to high-profile critics of President Donald Trump. The van has several stickers on the windows, including American flags, decals with logos and text.