MIAMI _ Mail bombing suspect Cesar Sayoc meekly agreed to remain jailed and to be transferred to New York to face federal criminal charges at a court hearing in Miami on Friday morning.
Sayoc, dressed in khaki jail scrubs over a beige T-shirt, appeared calm and collected as he was during his first court appearance earlier this week. Seated in the jury box, he chatted with a deputy U.S. marshal before his attorneys arrived and the hearing began.
"Yes, sir," Sayoc said in a hoarse voice when the judge asked if he understood what he was doing.
It's unclear precisely when he will be moved. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons and the U.S. Marshals Service generally does not reveal when inmates are being transferred, citing security concerns.
His Fort Lauderdale-based attorney, Jamie Benjamin, told U.S. Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres that Sayoc will wait until he arrives in New York to figure out how he plans to handle the case.
Sayoc is represented by the federal public defender's office in New York.
So far, he faces five federal charges and a maximum punishment of 48 years in prison, prosecutors wrote in court documents. Sayoc probably will be indicted on additional charges linked to the 15 explosive devices investigators say he mailed to targets.
Sayoc was arrested Oct. 26 in Plantation near the white van that investigators said he lived in. It's also believed he built the pipe bombs inside the van, which was covered in pro-Trump and anti-Democrat stickers.
Since his arrest, prosecutors said they believe that Sayoc began planning what they call a domestic terror attack in July. Several of the 15 devices contained shards of glass that were intended to cause maximum harm to the intended victims, they also revealed
Law enforcement sources said Sayoc also had a hit list of more than 100 people, including an editor at The New York Times.
