Mail bombing suspect appears in court
Cesar Sayoc faces five charges and maximum of 48 years in prison
MIAMI — The strip club DJ accused of mailing bombs to critics of President Donald Trump will remain in Florida this week as lawyers prepare for his transfer to New York City for prosecution.
Cesar Sayoc, 56, appeared in federal court Monday. He faces five charges, including interstate transportation of an explosive, illegal mailing of an explosive and threats against former presidents. If convicted, he could be sentenced to a maximum of 48 years in prison.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres scheduled another hearing for Sayoc on Friday. Monday’s hearing was brief, with Sayoc’s lawyers asking for more time and the judge agreeing to hold him without bond.
Prosecutors are seeking to transfer Sayoc to New York, where he will be prosecuted. A New York City public defender has been appointed in the case.
As Sayoc headed to court Monday, the FBI said its bomb squad in Atlanta is responding to “a suspicious package” at the U.S. Postal Service downtown.
The FBI did not identify to whom the package was addressed. But earlier in the day, CNN President Jeff Zucker announced that a suspicious package addressed to the cable television network was intercepted Monday at an Atlanta post office.
Sayoc, who was living in a van for much of the last decade, listed his mother’s Aventura condominium as his residence. When authorities confiscated the van Friday, it was covered in images of President Donald Trump, American flags and what appeared to be logos of the Republican National Committee and stickers criticizing Democrats and CNN.
Sayoc is a registered Republican and last voted in the November 2016 election. He graduated from North Miami Beach High School in 1980.
Sayoc was working the night before his arrest as a DJ at a strip club in West Palm Beach.
Authorities used a fingerprint found on an envelope sent to Rep. Maxine Waters to identify Sayoc as a suspect, FBI Director Christopher Wray said Friday.
Wray said investigators tracked more than a dozen devices mailed to highprofile Democrats and their supporters that all were similar. Each mailed device included 6 inches of PVC pipe, a small clock, battery, wiring and potentially explosive material designed to give out heat and energy.
The total number of bombs reached at least 14, including package sent to former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, Democratic donor George Soros, and Florida U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz. Authorities found a package Friday with a device in Florida addressed to New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, another in New York addressed to former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, a device recov- ered at Sen. Kamala Harris’ office in Sacramento, California, and another package that was intercepted at a mail facility in Burlingame, California, addressed to billionaire Tom Steyer.
Sayoc’s recent social media posts paint a picture of a staunch supporter of Trump and Ron DeSantis, the GOP nominee for Florida governor who the president has endorsed, as well as Republican Gov. Rick Scott. Other posts vilify Democrat Andrew Gillum, Tallahassee’s mayor, who is locked in a fierce battle with DeSantis.
Authorities focused last week on a postal distribution center in Opa-Locka after discovering several of the suspicious packages passed through it.
Sayoc was born in Brooklyn, New York and moved with his family to South Florida as a child. Records show he has a history of arrests dating back to at least the early 1990s. He also had financial troubles, filing for bankruptcy in 2012.
Sayoc’s criminal history includes a
2015 arrest in Broward County for petty theft and probation violation, and a
2002 Miami-Dade charge for threatening to blow up Florida Power and Light.