Search

Mail bomb suspect scheduled for Election Day court hearing

The 56-year-old will appear in court in downtown Manhattan at noon, according to a letter from federal prosecutors to Judge Robert Lehrburger. Sayoc waived his right to a bond hearing in Miami on Friday.
He faces five federal charges: interstate transportation of an explosive, illegal mailing of explosives, threats against former presidents and other persons, threatening interstate communications, and assaulting current and former federal officers.
Sayoc's attorney, Daniel Aaronson, has said that his client intends to plead not guilty.
"Nobody has been able in a court of law to say that those were bombs that he sent," the attorney said. "Therefore, there is no reason why he should speak or possibly have any information to impart."

16th explosive device recovered, prosecutors say

Sayoc is accused of sending at least 16 mail bombs to several targets, including CNN, former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. None of the devices detonated, and no one was injured.
If convicted, he could receive up to 48 years in prison.
Since Sayoc's October 26 arrest, authorities have recovered two more packages containing explosive devices.
The latest package was found Friday, federal prosecutors said in the letter to Lehrburger. The device was in a package addressed to Democratic donor and billionaire Thomas Steyer, in California, prosecutors said. It was the second package Sayoc allegedly mailed to Steyer.
"The defendant used mailing materials nearly identical to the other 15 packages, including the same type of envelope, address format, and stamps," the prosecutors' letter reads.
On Monday, his mother wrote an open letter to television network ABC, in which she warned politicians that fiery rhetoric targeting politicians and journalists resonated with the mentally ill, spurring them to "violently act out in our country."
Madeline Sayoc said her estranged son was mentally ill and that his family tried to get him help over the years, to no avail. She called for stronger laws that would allow American families to "compel and require" treatment for their loved ones, when necessary.

FBI finds target list, package labels

Sayoc was arrested at an AutoZone parking lot in Plantation, Florida, as he neared his white Dodge van, which was plastered with pro-Trump and anti-Democrat memes.
In the week since his arrest, authorities have called the pipe bombs a "domestic terrorist attack."
A letter sent to the judge presiding over Sayoc's case in Florida suggests investigators believe he had planned to continue his alleged attacks.
"Put simply, only the defendant's arrest and incapacitation resulting from his detention were sufficient to stop his attack," US Attorney Geoffrey Berman of the Southern District of New York wrote.
Searches into Sayoc's laptop and cell phone showed he had been doing research online about the homes and families of the recipients of the packages. He also kept a list of their physical addresses and had lists of other potential targets, the letter said.
And while the exact content of the packages has not been discussed in detail, prosecutors said the bombs had clear similarities. They were found in envelopes that had return labels listing the address and the name of US Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, a former Democratic National Committee chair.
The return labels all had the same misspellings, the letter said.

Video shows suspect chatting with officers

Investigators suspect that Sayoc made the pipe bombs in the van he was arrested beside, two law enforcement sources have said.
A law enforcement official has said it appears Sayoc had been kicked out by his parents and was living in the vehicle.
Sayoc's arrest last month was not the first time that law enforcement approached him near his vehicle.
In September, two Boca Raton police officers had a friendly chat with the former male dancer outside his van, which was parked outside a fitness club.
The nearly five-minute conversation was recorded on an officer's bodycam.
The footage shows one officer explaining that someone had called about Sayoc, saying, "They were concerned about you."
The officers seemed to think he was OK. Sayoc told them he was taking a nap after working at a Florida strip club and that he planned to go inside the gym to work out. They checked his license and ran his plate, and they both came back valid.
In the video, Sayoc's dashboard and front seats are visible but not the rest of the interior.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

from CNN.com - RSS Channel https://ift.tt/2Qo1jb1

Bagikan Berita Ini

0 Response to "Mail bomb suspect scheduled for Election Day court hearing"

Post a Comment

Powered by Blogger.