MIAMI _ Cesar Sayoc, a strident supporter of President Donald Trump charged with directing a mail bomb campaign against prominent Democrats and other Trump critics, will remain in federal custody in South Florida for at least a few more days.
The 56-year-old Aventura, Fla., man, arrested Friday on charges of sending more than a dozen pipe bombs to political targets across the country, made his first federal court appearance Monday before an expected move to New York, where his case will be formally prosecuted.
But Sayoc's defense attorneys requested more time to prepare a request for possible bond, and Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres agreed to set a detention hearing for Friday. Prosecutors said they would oppose any bond for Sayoc, calling him a danger to the community and a flight risk.
The defendant _ wearing a khaki prison jumpsuit, shackled and surrounded by U.S. marshals _ said nothing during the brief hearing but seemed to be fighting back tears.
An FBI criminal complaint filed by the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York charges Sayoc with interstate transportation of an explosive, illegal mailing of explosives, threats against former presidents and certain other persons, threatening interstate communications and assaulting federal officers.
According to sources, Sayoc told FBI agents and other authorities during a brief interview Friday at the bureau's South Florida field office in Miramar that he never meant to hurt any of the intended targets _ though the FBI's director later said the pipe bombs were not "hoax devices." Sayoc eventually clammed up, invoking his Miranda rights and asking to speak with a lawyer. None of the devices exploded.
The targets listed in the complaint are former President Barack Obama, former U.S. Sen. and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (and, by reference, her husband, former President Bill Clinton), former Vice President Joe Biden, former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, former CIA Director John Brennan and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, billionaire philanthropist and donor George Soros, and actor and director Robert De Niro.
Packages for Soros, De Niro, Clinton, Brennan and Clapper were mailed to the New York area, including those to Brennan and Clapper addressed to the Manhattan offices of CNN.
Sayoc, a former male stripper who had been living out of a van festooned with pro-Trump stickers and artwork depicting Obama and Hillary Clinton in crosshairs, is being held at the Miami Federal Detention Center in downtown Miami.
Federal agents are still searching for other possible suspects in South Florida who may have helped Sayoc, who was arrested at an auto parts store in Plantation.
FBI Director Christopher Wray would not say if there might be other potential suspects associated with the bomb-filled packages, citing the ongoing investigation. But the FBI director warned there could still be other suspicious envelopes en route to political targets.
"Today's arrest does not mean we're out of the woods," he said during a news conference in Washington, D.C., on Friday. "There may be other packages in transit now _ other packages on the way."
Friday night, FBI agents questioned a person at a Broward County residence with a potential connection to Sayoc, but nothing came of the interview, according to law enforcement sources familiar with the probe.
Investigators are also analyzing Sayoc's impounded van in which he lived and allegedly built the pipe bombs because it contains a trove of valuable evidence, from explosive-device materials to credit card receipts. They say the vehicle directly links him to the crime of mailing the devices from South Florida to the targets. They were so crudely made that none detonated.
Agents also scrutinized Sayoc's voluminous social media posts, his cellphone records and his movements throughout South Florida to link him to the threats against the Democratic targets. Sources told the Miami Herald that those database searches did not reveal evidence that Sayoc was influenced by any terrorist organizations, including Islamic State. The notorious Middle Eastern terrorist group's propaganda has been posted on social media of several convicted felons who attempted to carry out past bombings in South Florida.
Wray credited the "phenomenal work" of federal agents and FBI lab experts along with state and local police in New York, the Washington, D.C., area, Delaware, Florida and California, where authorities say the bomb-filled manila envelopes were sent by Sayoc since mid-October. All of the packages, which had the return address of the congressional office of U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, were routed through a U.S. Postal Service mail sorting facility in Opa-locka.
A trail of telltale clues helped investigators quickly focus the nationwide manhunt on Sayoc. Among the connections: a latent fingerprint on an envelope sent to Waters along with DNA residue on two devices sent to Waters and Obama. They matched with DNA records kept by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement that were collected from Sayoc in previous state criminal cases.
