FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ Cesar Altieri Sayoc, 56, of Aventura, Fla., was arrested in Plantation, Fla., on Friday in connection with a series of pipe bombs that were mailed to at least 12 critics of President Donald Trump.
Sayoc is a registered Republican who has been arrested 10 times, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, including once in 2002 for making a bomb threat.
His other arrests include several for larceny, including a shoplifting charge in West Palm Beach in 2015.
Daniel Aaronson, a Fort Lauderdale attorney who represented Sayoc in a 2014 misdemeanor case in which he was accused of stealing "various copper piping items" in Hollywood, said he was stunned to hear that Sayoc is considered a suspect in the case.
"I am floored," Aaronson said. "There are 330 million people in the U.S., I would have put him in the bottom two to three million of people I would suspect of doing this."
"He was the most respectful client that I think I've ever had. I didn't think he had a political bone in his body. I cannot believe that this would be the case that he would have done anything like this."
According to state corporate filings, Sayoc has two registered businesses that are active with the state, including Native American Catering and Vending and Ver Tech AG.
His white van, impounded at the scene of the arrest, featured a multitude of pro-Trump stickers, as well as Democrats such as Elizabeth Warren with crosshairs over their faces. One of the pro-Trump stickers on his van featured the words "Top Youth Soccer Recruits for Trump," and Sayoc's email address relates to youth soccer recruiting.
