Package Bomb Suspect Started Planning Attacks Back in July

A letter sent to the judge who is hearing the case of the Cesar Sayoc, the man who allegedly sent suspicious packages to prominent Democrats, claims that Sayoc started planning his attacks in July.

The letter was sent to Judge Edwin Torres by the prosecutors in the case urging that Sayoc not be released on bail before his trial, USA Today reported.

“The evidence of the defendant’s terror campaign is still being collected but is already overwhelming,” prosecutors wrote in the letter.

“The defendant conducted a domestic terrorist attack targeting at least 15 victims with improvised explosive devices (IEDs) that he sent to locations throughout the country in padded mailing envelopes,” the letter said.

The latest package to be intercepted was sent to CNN headquarters in Atlanta. It was intercepted at a local post office on Oct. 29. The package is the fifteenth bomb-like device that Sayoc allegedly sent to former Obama administration officials, prominent Democratic Party supporters, and the CNN.

The first such package was delivered to Democratic Party contributor George Soros on Oct. 22. President Barack Obama, Vice president Joe Biden, and ex-Senator Hillary Clinton also received suspicious packages.

FBI Director Christopher Wray told a press conference on Oct. 28, “Though we’re still analyzing the devices in our laboratory, these are not hoax devices.”

None of the bomb-like devices mailed in the packages detonated.

Hundreds of Potential Targets

Cesar Sayoc was arrested and charged with mailing at least 14 pipe bombs to various former Democraticic officials and party supporters. Broward County Sheriff's Office via Getty Images

Cesar Sayoc was arrested and charged with mailing at least 14 pipe bombs to various former Democraticic officials and party supporters. (Broward County Sheriff’s Office via Getty Images)The FBI identified the alleged bomber as 56-year-old Cesar Sayoc, Jr., whose address is listed as Aventura, Florida, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

Sayoc was arrested at an auto parts store in Plantation, Florida, on Oct. 26. His van and laptop were seized during the arrest. USA Today reported that he seemed to have been living in his van.

Journalists wait outside the Plantation, Florida AutoZone store where alleged package bomber Cesar Sayoc was arrested by FBI agents on Oct. 26. Michele Eve Sandberg/AFP/Getty Images

A search of his laptop revealed that he had compiled a list of hundreds of potential targets and had a file from which he could print address labels for those targets, the New York Post reported.  The list was first saved on July 26.

Sayoc’s internet search history showed that he had been researching the addresses of potential targets as early as July 15, when he began looking for Hillary Clinton’s mailing address, USA Today reported.

The number of searches multiplied in September and October, and the scope of possible targets expanded as well. His later searches included family members of prominent Democratic Party figures.

Sayoc searched specifically for the “wife and kids” of former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former Attorney General Eric Holder, and former CIA Director James Brennan.

Prosecutors said that the FBI “is warning each individual” whose name was found on the list of targets.

An FBI press release from Oct. 25 stated, “It is possible that additional packages were mailed to other locations. The FBI advises the public to remain vigilant and not touch, move or handle any suspicious or unknown packages.”

From NTD.tv

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