US authorities: Florida man charged with five crimes in mail bomb spree
The US government on Friday announced a suspect had been arrested in connection with 12 suspicious packages and pipe bombs sent to critics of Donald Trump in a days-long spree that has inflamed the United States ahead of key midterm elections.
A suspect has been charged with five federal crimes in connection with more than a dozen suspicious packages sent in a US mail bombing spree, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Friday.
The charges include inter-state transporta
If put on trial and convicted, the suspect faces up to 58 years in prison, he added.
FBI chief Christopher Wray confirmed the suspect is 56-year-old Florida resident Cesar Sayoc, as reported in major US media outlets several hours earlier.
Thirteen improved explosive devices were sent to different individuals in the US mail bombing spree, including PVC pipe, a small clock, a battery and wiring, FBI director Christopher Wray announced Friday.
Wray warned that there "may be" further packages after announcing the arrest Friday of suspect Cesar Sayoc.
Sayoc has reportedly been on probation previously for a bomb threat.
Sayoc was taken into custody at an auto parts store in Plantation, Florida where a huge nationwide manhunt mobilizing hundreds of agents, had reportedly concentrated in recent hours.
Federal authorities were seen towing a white van from the scene, presumably belonging to the suspect. The vehicle was covered in stickers and hand-made posters promoting various conspiracy theories about major Democrats like George Soros and Hilary Clinton.
US media said the suspect was taken into custody in Florida, where a huge nationwide manhunt mobilizing hundreds of agents, had reportedly concentrated in recent hours.
Since Monday homemade bombs and other suspected explosive devices have been addressed to Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Hollywood megastar Robert De Niro and a litany of figures loathed by the US president's supporters.
Early Friday, an 11th package to Cory Booker, a New Jersey senator often touted as a Democratic presidential hope, was intercepted in Florida, the FBI confirmed.
A 12th package, identified by police as a pipe bomb similar to others found across the country, was found at a US Post Office in Manhattan and the bomb squad were dispatched, New York police said.
James Clapper, among a string of former intelligence chiefs critical of Trump, was the addressee of the 12th package, sent care of CNN.
On Wednesday, the news network evacuated its New York bureau after a similar package was found in the mail room addressed to another frequent CNN guest, former CIA director John Brennan.
Politicians on both sides of the aisle have branded the packages -- intercepted in New York, Maryland, Florida, Delaware and Los Angeles -- domestic terrorism, but Trump has come under fire for his response.
"Republicans are doing so well in early voting, and at the polls, and now this 'Bomb' stuff happens and the momentum greatly slows - news not talking politics," Trump tweeted Friday in remarks bound to enrage his opponents.