[ad_1]
Matt Zapotosky
National Security Journalist Covering the Department of Justice
October 27th at 19:35
BOCA RATON, Florida – The first thing that stands out in Cesar Sayoc is his vehicle.
As early as 2002, advocated Ronald Lowy, the windows of the Dodge Ram white van Sayoc were covered with stickers of Amerindian adornments. Although Sayoc is Filipino and Italian, he claimed to be a proud member of the Seminole tribe, Lowy said.
The lie was one of the many Sayoc would spread over the years. He falsely claimed to have worked as a dancer at Chippendales and he has already been charged with fraud for changing his driver's license to give the impression that he was younger, said Lowy, who represented him in this case. Sayoc seemed to have a new business every three months, but none succeeded. He worked as a DJ or bouncer in strip clubs, practiced bodybuilding and spent most of the decade living off his van, Lowy said.
"He invented stories to try to impress people," Lowy said. "He felt like he did not have a respected or loved background."
Then Donald Trump broke into the political scene.
[[[[Analysis: The van of the suspect to the postal bomb, annotated]
Sayoc, a 56-year-old man from Florida who, according to his friends and other badociates, had never shown an interest in politics, suddenly started sharing Facebook images with himself during the Trump campaign. He signed up for Twitter, where he traded in conspiracy theories and memes memes. He registered as a Republican to vote in Florida. Lowy said he thought it was his first life in Sayoc's life in 2016. He traded his Native American decals for decals that supported Trump.
"He had no interest in politics, was always in clubs, gyms, wherever he thought he could meet people, impress them. And Donald Trump's presidential campaign, which welcomed all the extremists, all the foreigners and all the foreigners, arrived and he had the feeling that someone was finally talking to him, "Lowy said.
On Friday, the federal authorities arrested Sayoc and accused him of having sent more than a dozen potential bombs to various Democratic personalities and critical media outlets regarding Trump. Although none of these devices exploded, the incidents exacerbated the partisan tension prevailing in the country before the mid-term elections and raised fears that politicians' inflammatory rhetoric could lead to physical violence. The Liberals accused this of the fault of the president, of whom Sayoc was clearly a devoted supporter. The Conservatives, meanwhile, have said that their opponents and the media have the responsibility to increase resentment.
Sayoc is scheduled to appear in federal court in Miami for the first time Monday afternoon.
Cesar Sayoc in an August 2015 reservation photo of the Broward County Sheriff's Office. (Broward County Sheriff's Office / AFP / Getty Images) (Ho / AFP / Getty Images)
Federal officials refused to say what they thought was a motivation for Sayoc, although Attorney General Jeff Sessions called the incident "political violence" and said Sayoc "seemed to be a supporter" . Sayoc refused to speak when the investigators approached him for the first time. lawyer, an officer in law enforcement said.
Long before Sayoc was political, he was troubled.
He has been charged with several crimes over the years, including theft, badault, fraud and possession of steroids, based on court records and interviews with his former lawyers. Lowy said that when he was asked to represent Sayoc in 2002, it was because Sayoc – who was then holding a laundromat – had not paid his electricity bill and had threatened to bomb Florida Power & Light. According to a police report, Sayoc reportedly said the incident would be "worse than September 11" [2001]. "
Lowy stated that his initial thinking about the allegation was: "What kind of crazy terrorist is it?"
"And then, this man comes into my office with a photo album of people with whom he had pictures, driving a vehicle like no one is looking at him, and I realized that I had a funny balloon here", said Lowy. "In 2002, he said stupid things, but he was not a kamikaze yet. Is this a sign that he used the words? This may be a sign of what it could become.
Theresa Sharp-Russell, Sayoc's aunt, told the Washington Post on Saturday that she knew her nephew had mental health problems – her mood could rise and worsen, she said – but she was not sure she had ever been diagnosed. Sharp-Russell, a real estate broker, said he spoke to Sayoc for the last time 12 years ago, when she sold him a home in Fort Lauderdale.
At the time, she said, he seemed seized again. He covered his mortgage for two years. Then the payments stopped and the bank seized the property. After that, Sharp-Russell said that he had bought a blue van. She did not know how long he had been driving the White – who, at the time of his arrest, was covered in Trump stickers and images of his critics with red targets.
"If I saw that, I would have called the cops," she said. "That's scary."
Sharp-Russell, who has lived in the area for 30 years, said Sayoc did not seem dangerous at the time. Of course, he would fight with his mother and his cousins. But he also made jokes and showed his respect – although he was a little lonely, she reminded herself.
"He was nice," she says.
Sharp-Russell said that, politically, their family was left and that his sister had told him that Sayoc had also done so.
"It's a poor soul and probably just wanting to get our attention," she said. "Maybe he thought Trump was a substitute father."
Lowy, who now represents Sayoc's mother and two sisters, said that Sayoc's father was left when he was a child and was not involved in his life. Lowy said that Sayoc's mother and other members of his family had prompted Sayoc to "get mental help, counseling, therapy, stop telling stories, and whenever they tried to make a suggestion, he got angry. "The last time they spoke – over three years ago – Lowy said that Sayoc had told his mother that he hated her.
Sayoc, however, apparently continued to live nearby. His van became a well-known show on the Waterways Shoppes car park in Aventura, Florida, less than five kilometers from his mother's condominium complex. Steve Coltune, who often walks his dog in front of the parking lot, said Sayoc "park in a corner, in an inconspicuous place. But the van was so horrible that you could not miss it.
"I took pictures and sent them to my friends," Coltune said. "It was really weird. It looked like a hoarder's vehicle. "
Sayoc attended a university in North Carolina and has worked intermittently over the past 20 years as a DJ and bodyguard in strip clubs in South Florida, according to his badociates. In his early days, he ensured the safety of the dancers and recovered money on the stage.
Stacy Saccal, general manager of the Ultra Gentlemen's West Palm Beach Club, where Sayoc worked for two months, said that Sayoc had been recommended by a member of another club and that He was a "super nice guy". change on the Thursday before his arrest.
"It was funny, it was fun," said Saccal. "The situation is strange, it's amazing."
But Michael Jay, a DJ who knew him years ago, said Sayoc appeared to be in "sleazy and naughty stuff" and that he was usually trying to keep himself away from him.
"He looked like the guy who ran by following the crowd instead of directing it," he said. "It's his way of acting."
Scott Meigs, an Ultra DJ, not far from the Trump International Golf Course, said that he knew Sayoc during previous concerts – even though they'd been disconnected for a few years before reconnecting to Ultra last month.
Sayoc, said Meigs, had a sudden new interest.
"When I met him in this club, he started talking politics all the time," said Meigs. "Just stuff, trying to get the Republicans to vote. If he watched something on the news, he would say, "see, see."
Meigs said that Sayoc had agreed to give him a job Thursday and that he had shown a reporter the text messages exchanged about it. The texts show that Sayoc urged Meigs to vote for Republican Ron DeSantis in the upcoming Florida governorship. He said he was not aware of the stickers on Sayoc's van, which was usually parked far away. Some employees, he said, badumed that it was an ice cream truck.
It is unclear exactly when Sayoc's interest in politics has begun, although his social media suggests that he seems to be stepping up alongside Trump's presidential campaign.
On June 18, 2015, his Facebook account quickly expressed his enthusiasm for Trump, who announced his candidacy for the presidency two days earlier. "Donald Trump, the GNSO's Grand President, supports all Native tribes and brings together supporters," the report said, according to footage provided to The Post by Columbia University social media researcher Jonathan Albright, who downloaded them on Friday before Facebook deleted that information. Sayoc created a Twitter account on May 20, 2016 and he quickly began to share positive feelings about Trump and attacks against his opponents.
The messages are a mixture of wild conspiracy theories and allusions to violence. He has tweeted dozens of times about former President Barack Obama, former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the former Attorney General Eric Holder, Liberal billionaire George Soros and Representative Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) All were recipients of potential explosives. He seemed to have a particular disdain for Hollywood and the media – responding to an article about a shootout at The Capital Gazette, in Maryland, with the following message: "If that was misleading, BS news, that's all." is exaggerated for a long time. "
Lowy said he believed Sayoc had found a house, even if it was dark, in the world of conservative trolls.
"It's someone who has no place in society," Lowy said. "He is a person to whom you have to reach out. He lost himself and unfortunately he was found by the wrong group.
This November 1, 2017 photo shows a van whose windows are covered with an badortment of stickers in Well, Florida. Federal authorities arrested Cesar Sayoc on Friday and confiscated his van, which appears to be the same, in a car part. store in Plantation, Florida as part of the widespread panic that has targeted major Democrats from coast to coast to coast. (Courtesy of Lesley Abravanel / AP)
In hindsight, Meigs, Ultra's DJ, said he realized that Sayoc had been acting strangely in recent days. On Thursday, Meigs said that a dancer had approached to ask how Sayoc was going when he was near his pickup truck, and Sayoc would not let her look inward. When Sayoc played his tray that night, he let the songs run for seven or eight minutes, and the dancers reported that he was looking down and searching with materials in the booth, said Meigs. He said he noticed on Sunday that Sayoc had two big duffel bags, although the only equipment he needed for his job was a laptop and a hard drive.
"I just thought he was pbadionate about the upcoming elections," Meigs said. "I thought it was fine, we should all go out and vote, you know, if you're pbadionate about it, I understand, but God, but the way he went, it's totally crazy.
Meigs said the FBI had been to the club on Friday to interview employees. The FBI said it linked Sayoc to the devices via a fingerprint and possible correspondence with the DNA, but did not specify where it had recovered the material or whether the devices it had manufactured could have worked.
"I never asked him, but I was curious to know what was in the bags," Meigs said. "They were very big and strong."
Rozsa reported from West Palm Beach, Florida. Amy B Wang, Julie Tate, Craig Timberg, Annie Gowen, Elise Viebeck, Andrew Ba Tran and Devlin Barrett contributed to this report from Washington.
Read more:
Who is Cesar Sayoc? What we know about the alleged courier-bomber arrested in Florida.
Opinion: Trump's words have nothing to do with mail bombs? Spare us.
Florida man arrested for sending letters to public figures
Trump says media coverage of explosive devices slows GOP momentum for election
Chronology: list of targeted persons and recipients of parcels.
"A lying machine", "low IQ": what Trump called the recipients of the package
[ad_2]
Source link
