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Cesar Sayoc, an atomic bomb suspect, raised his arm to swear about his statement in New York on Tuesday and on Friday received an indictment on 30 charges.
Elizabeth Williams / AP
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Elizabeth Williams / AP
Cesar Sayoc, an atomic bomb suspect, raised his arm to swear about his statement in New York on Tuesday and on Friday received an indictment on 30 charges.
Elizabeth Williams / AP
The man accused of sending a series of homemade bombs across the country to criticism of President Trump – including former President Barack Obama, liberal philanthropist George Soros, actor Robert De Niro and CNN offices – was charged on Friday.
Cesar Sayoc of Aventura, Florida, was indicted by a federal court in Manhattan as part of an indictment involving 30 counts of indictment.
Prosecutors say that he sent 16 improvised explosive devices to 13 people by the American Post with the intention of "killing, wounding and intimidating". The indictment concerns packages sent to victims in the southern district of New York.
Aged 56, he was accused of using a weapon of mass destruction, transporting an explosive from one state to another, threatening interstate commerce, d & # 39; to have illegally shipped an explosive, to transport an explosive during a crime and to use a device of destruction to commit an attack. violent crime.
"He is facing life imprisonment," NPR spokesman Nicholas Biase told the US District Attorney's Office in New York.
And prosecutors believe that evidence of his alleged involvement abounds.
Between October 22 and November 2, the FBI and the US Postal Service recovered the 16 manila envelopes containing bombs, prosecutors said. The envelopes had similar characteristics, in addition to a clock, cables and PVC pipes filled with explosive materials: they included a recipient of the return of "Debbie Wasserman Shultz" – a member of Congress and former president of the Democratic National Committee – and six self-adhesive stamps. stamps with the American flag.
DNA, including fingerprinting on two envelopes, has linked Sayoc to many devices, prosecutors said. They also identified him by studying his accounts on social networks, analyzing the content of the messages as well as their spelling mistakes.
Arrested on October 26 in an auto parts store, he was charged with five felonies under federal law, including the transportation of explosives across state borders, the threat of former presidents, and aggression of federal officials.
Prior to the arrest, the registered Republican lived in a van covered with pro-Trump and anti-Democrat stickers. An image showed the president standing on a tank with a rifle, equipped with the United States flag and fireworks.
According to prosecutors, the FBI seized a laptop in the van containing mailing address lists corresponding to the labels affixed to the envelopes. Authorities also said they found Internet searches of victims' addresses on their mobile phone. These requests started in July.
Sayoc had also compiled a list of more than 100 potential targets.
He was already part of the criminal justice system because of previous arrests in Florida, reported Gabriela Saldivia, of NPR.
According to the indictment, targeted victims, including Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, former CIA director John Brennan and the former director of national intelligence, James Clapper, also received a picture of them wearing a red "X".
Nobody was injured, the bombs did not explode.
In a written statement, US Attorney General of Manhattan Geoffrey Berman described the mailings as a "bomb attack against a nation that values the rule of law, a free press and tolerance of differences, without rancor or recourse. to violence ". He added that it only took five days to identify and stop Sayoc. "He must now face the justice of a people's laws," Berman said.
Sayoc appeared in New York earlier this week after being transferred from Florida. He is detained without bail.
The case was assigned to US District Judge Jed Rakoff.
Sayoc's lawyer, Sarah Baumgartel, did not immediately respond to NPR's requests for comment.
Debra Gureghian, who was working with Sayoc at New River Pizza where he was a delivery man, told Greg Myre, of NPR, that he had openly talked about the elimination of Jews, gays and blacks. "He would start talking about Hitler – he loved Hitler – loved Hitler," she said.
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