Florida man charged with sending 13 crude bombs
Cesar Sayoc arrested after authorities trace DNA, fingerprint from packages
WASHINGTON — A man in Florida with a lengthy criminal record was arrested and charged Friday with sending 13 packages containing improvised explosive devices to high-profile figures across the country, authorities said.
The arrest came on the same day law enforcement found three more devices — in Florida, New York and California — and capped off an increasingly tense five-day stretch in which at least one explosive device was found each day, putting officials and potential targets on high alert. None of the devices detonated. All of them were sent to people who have criticized or clashed with President Donald Trump, and authorities continued to warn Friday that others could still be out there. Attorney General Jeff Sessions listens as FBI Director Christopher Wray speaks during a news conference about the arrest of Cesar Sayoc, 56, of Aventura, Fla.,
Authorities arrested 56-year-old Cesar Sayoc, who according to Florida records has a decades-long criminal record that included including a past arrest for a bomb threat. Sayoc was charged Friday with transporting explosives across state lines, illegally mailing explosives, threatening former presidents and others, threatening interstate communications and assaulting federal officials, according to charging documents. He could face decades in prison if convicted.
FBI Director Christopher Wray referred to the 13 explosive devices recovered so far as “IEDs,” an abbreviation for improvised explosive devices. He said investigators were able to trace Sayoc after finding a fingerprint on an envelope containing a bomb sent to Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., and that DNA found on two of the devices was a possible match to a sample previously taken from Sayoc during an earlier arrest.
Inside the packages sent to three of the potential targets — former President Barack Obama, former CIA director John Brennan and Waters — were a picture of
each person with red “X” marks on them, according to the criminal complaint, filed by federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York.
Wray declined to say whether the devices could have detonated, saying that investigators are “still trying to determine whether or not they were functional.” But he said they did contain potentially explosive material, adding: “These are not hoax devices.”
The complaint also included details suggesting Sayoc’s antipathy toward the people and organizations targeted, including CNN, where one package was found and another addressed.
“The windows of Sayoc’s van were covered with images including images critical of CNN,” the complaint said. The complaint also identifies a Twitter account that law enforcement officials believe Sayoc used, and noted that account contained misspellings consistent with those seen on the packages. The complaint also said one post made Wednesday criticized George Soros, the billionaire activist, who two days earlier had received an explosive.
Wray declined to say if Sayoc is cooperating with investigators. When asked why Sayoc allegedly targeted Democrats, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he that “appears to be a partisan, but that would be determined by the facts as the case goes forward.” He declined to comment further.
Trump told reporters ouside the White House on Friday that he was made aware that the suspect was one of his supporters, but said he bears “no blame” for the suspect’s actions. “There is no blame. There’s no anything,” Trump said before leaving for a political rally in North Carolina. Asked if he planned to tone down the partisan rhetoric at rallies, which his An FBI agent and a detective talk to an employee at an Auto Zone in Plantation, Fla., where the suspect was arrested. critics contend has deepened political divisions in the country, Trump replied: “I think I’ve been toned down. You know, I could really tone it up.”
Sayoc’s previous run-ins with law enforcement date back at least to an arrest for larceny when Sayoc was 29 years old, according to state records. Other charges of larceny, grand theft and fraud soon followed across the southern part of the state. In 2002, the Miami police arrested him for a bomb threat, a felony. Sayoc pleaded guilty without trial and was sentenced to probation, the records show.
Speaking Friday at the White House, Trump called the suspected mail bombs “terrorizing acts” and praised law enforcement officers for the arrest in Florida. “We will prosecute them, him, her, whoever it may be, to the fullest extent of the law,” he said at a White House event. His remarks came a short time after he tweeted a complaint that the media’s focus on bombs was distracting from Republican efforts in the upcoming midterm elections. “Republicans are doing so well in early voting, and at the polls, and now this “Bomb” stuff happens and the momentum greatly slows — news not talking politics.”
News of the arrest emerged as investigators recovered the latest explosive devices, packages sent to Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., former director of national intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. and Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif. The FBI said a package, “similar in appearance to the others” found this week, was addressed to Booker and located in Florida. A spokesman for Booker declined to comment.
A package recovered at a Manhattan postal facility on Friday was addressed to Clapper, a CNNcontributor, at the network. Just two days earlier, CNN’s offices in New York were evacuated when the package for Brennan, addressed to him at the network, was found in the mailroom.