US mail bombs: Florida man charged over explosives sent to Trump opponents

Cesar Altieri Sayoc has been charged
REUTERS
Katy Clifton26 October 2018

A 56-year-old man suspected of sending bombs to high-profile opponents of Donald Trump has been charged with five offences, including illegal mailing of explosives.

The US Attorney General said Cesar Sayoc, the suspect in a raft of suspicious packages sent to prominent Democrats and others, is in the custody of the FBI and has been charged.

Sayoc faces up to 58 years in prison if found guilty, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said at a press conference announcing the charges on Friday.

"We will not tolerate such lawlessness," he said, "especially political violence."

US Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaks about arrest of mail bomb suspect Cesar Sayoc
EPA

FBI Director Christopher Wray said a fingerprint found on a package sent to Congressman Maxine Waters has been confirmed to be Sayoc’s - and suggested there may be other packages.

Sayod has been charged with interstate transport of explosives, illegal mailing of explosives, threats against former presidents and other persons, threatening interstate comms and assaulting current and former federal officers.

The 56-year-old is said to have a history of arrests for theft, illegal steroids possession and a 2002 charge of making a bomb threat. Police say he pushed far-right conspiracy theories online.

The development came amid a nationwide manhunt for the person responsible for at least 13 explosive devices addressed to prominent Democrats including former president Barack Obama and 2016 candidate Hillary Clinton.

None of the devices exploded and no one has been injured.

FBI Director Christopher Wray speaks at the press conference
EPA

The case continued widening on Friday even as Sayoc was detained. Investigators in California scrutinised a similar package sent to Democratic Senator Kamala Harris, her office said.

In Washington, the Attorney General cautioned that Sayoc had only been charged, not convicted.

He said: "Let this be a lesson to anyone regardless of their political beliefs that we will bring the full force of law against anyone who attempts to use threats, intimidation and outright violence to further an agenda.

"We will find you, we will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law."

In Florida, law enforcement officers were seen on television examining a white van, its windows covered with an assortment of stickers, outside the Plantation auto parts store.

Authorities covered the vehicle with a blue tarp and took it away on the back of a flatbed truck.

Federal authorities took Cesar Sayoc into custody on Friday and confiscated his van
AP

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

He did not mention that the package recipients were all Democrats or officials in Obama's administration, in addition to CNN, a news network he criticises almost daily.

Earlier on Friday, he complained that "this bomb stuff" was taking attention away from the upcoming election and said critics were wrongly blaming him and his heated rhetoric.

The Justice Department scheduled a Friday afternoon news conference in Washington that was to include New York Police Commissioner James O'Neill, whose department investigated the mailings with the FBI.

Law enforcement officials said they had intercepted a dozen packages in states across the country. None had exploded, and it wasn't immediately clear if they were intended to cause physical harm or simply sow fear and anxiety.

Online court records show that Sayoc in 2002 was arrested and served a year of probation for a felony charge of threatening to throw or place a bomb. No further details were available about the case.

Sayoc was convicted in 2014 for grand theft and misdemeanour theft of less than $300, and in 2013 for battery. In 2004, he faced several felony charges for possession of a synthetic anabolic-androgenic steroid. He also had several arrests for theft in the 1990s.

Law enforcement officials said 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.

Most of those targeted were past or present US officials, but one was sent to actor Robert De Niro and billionaire George Soros.

The bombs have been sent across the country - from New York, Delaware and Washington, D.C. They bore the return address of Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee.

Additional reporting by agencies.

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