Florida Man Sentenced For Pipe Bombs Sent to Chappaqua, Katonah

The Florida man who sent pipe bombs to George Soros's house in Katonah and Hillary Clinton's house in Chappaqua was sentenced to to 20 years in prison Monday for mailing 16 improvised explosive devices to victims across the country.

Each of the IEDs mailed by Sayoc contained a mix of explosive powder from fireworks, shards of glass, and pool chemicals, designed to maximize potential injuries, damage, and the burning of his intended victims’ skin, prosecutors said.

His terror-by-mail plot targeted prominent Democrats and ex-officials of the Obama administration.

In alphabetical order, Sayoc's intended victims were former Vice President Joseph Biden, Senator Cory Booker, former CIA Director John Brennan, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, CNN, Robert De Niro, Senator Kamala Harris, former Attorney General Eric Holder, former President Barack Obama, George Soros, Thomas Steyer, and Representative Maxine Walters, prosecutors said.

“Cesar Sayoc assembled and mailed explosive devices to high-ranking officials and former elected leaders to incite fear and to terrorize his victims," said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman in an announcement about the sentencing. "Though thankfully no one was hurt by his actions, Sayoc’s domestic terrorism challenged our nation’s cherished tradition of peaceful political discourse. For his wanton disregard of the safety of so many people, Sayoc will now spend 20 years in prison.”

The fifty-six-year-old had pleaded guilty March 21.

According to the FBI, in October 2018, Sayoc mailed from Florida 16 padded envelopes, each containing an improvised explosive device, to addresses in New York, New Jersey, Washington, D.C., Delaware, Georgia, and California.

On the outside of each IED, Sayoc placed photographs of each of the victims, and sometimes their families and others, with a red “X” over their faces. He also affixed black flags, similar in appearance to banners used by ISIS and other foreign terrorist organizations, to the outside of the IEDs.

Sayoc had posted incendiary comments about liberal political figures online since at least 2011, prosecutors said. In the months prior to mailing the IEDs, he incited violence against the victims, conveyed direct threats against them, and researched where and how to carry out his attack.

For example, in April 2016, he wrote that former President Barack Obama’s “head need[ed] to be chopped off” and he wished “death” to George Soros and former Attorney General Eric Holder. In April 2017, Sayoc wished “Death” to “all Clintons” and in November 2017 posted “Your days are number[ed] Steyer[].”

Beginning in December 2017, he researched the victims and their addresses, prosecutors said. For example, on Dec. 23, 2017, Sayoc searched for the address of Congresswoman Maxine Waters, and, over the course of the ensuing months, he repeatedly searched for the “home address” or “address” of several of the victims, and intensified these searches in the days before his attack. Finally, Sayoc researched online how to make a “letter bomb” and watched videos depicting explosions.

The FBI arrested Sayoc in Plantation, Florida, on Oct. 26, 2018, less than five days after the recovery of the first IED, which he had mailed to Soros in New York. Between Oct. 22 and Nov. 2, 2018, the FBI and the U.S. Postal Service recovered all 16 IEDs.

Court documents revealed that he had a troubled past, even threatening to blow up a Florida Power & Light office in Miami back in 2002. Court records in Miami-Dade County suggest that Sayoc's fingerprints were placed on file in November 2002. This may have been the reason federal investigators were able to get a match when they found a fingerprint on one of the envelope packages during the investigation into the bomb plot.

Sayoc of Aventura, Florida, was described by an attorney who once represented him as charismatic, childish and immature.

SEE ALSO:

• Explosive Device Found in Mailbox at George Soros's NY Home
• Explosive Devices Sent to Clintons, Obama
• California Sen. Kamala Harris Among Latest Terror-By-Mail Targets
• Mail Bombs 'Not Hoax Devices,' FBI Says; Sayoc Faces Rash Of Charges
• Cesar Sayoc: Man With Troubled Past, Childish Behavior
• Soros Conspiracy Theorizing Goes Local