The FBI Has Arrested a Seemingly Unhinged Career Criminal and Charged Him with Five Federal Felony Counts in Relation to the Mail Bombs

THE WEEKEND IS HERE...ALMOST? AND THANK GOODNESS. It has been a wild week, and we need a break. But, there are a lot of loose ends to tie up before we head into Saturday. • • • BOMB MAILER SUSPECT ARRESTED. A suspect has been identified and arrested in the mail bombings. The suspect arrested on Friday in connection with the series of suspected explosive packages mailed to prominent Democrats has been identified by law enforcement officials as Cesar Sayoc Jr., according to media reports. The New York Times identified Sayoc as a 56-year-old male from Aventura, Fla., north of Miami. He is a registered Republican with a criminal record that includes felony theft, drug and fraud charges dating back to 1991. Public records also show he was once arrested and accused of threatening to use a bomb. The New York Times reports that Sayoc was born in New York and public records list his occupation as “manager.” He suspect was arrested on Friday near Plantation, Florida, in the district represented by Democrat Representative Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, whose office was listed as a return address on several of the packages. • FBI agents were seen nearby covering up a white van that appeared to be covered in political stickers and decals honoring President Trump and Vice President Pence. Aerial images show the van taken from Plantation, Florida, has stickers with President Trump and VP Pence, as well as "CNN SUCKS" and images of Hillary Clinton and others with gun sight targets over their faces. It is unclear whether the van belongs to Sayoc. • None of the devices have detonated, and no injuries from them have been reported. No formal charges have been filed as of yet but the Justice Department announced at a press conference held on Friday afternoon that Sayoc has been charged wiht five federal criminal offenses, including threatening a former US President. • The Miami Herald reported late on Friday morning that : "A trail of DNA evidence on the packages or the devices helped investigators narrow a nationwide manhunt to Cesar Sayoc, a 56-year-old man from Aventura, law enforcement sources told the Miami Herald. Sayoc was being questioned by FBI agents with the Joint Terrorism Task Force following his arrest. The arrest was made at an AutoZone in Plantation instead of his home to avoid any potential dangerous confrontation, sources told the Miami Herald. News partner CBS4 reports a 'loud explosion' was heard at the time of the arrest, possibly from an FBI flash bomb device. Sayoc was a frequent poster on social media sites and his Twitter and Facebook accounts were filled pro-Trump memes and attacks on Democrats -- including a string linking Andrew Gillum, the Democratic candidate for Florida governor, with billionaire George Soros, a major party donor and recipient of one of the menacing mailings. Court records show he has a handful of arrests, including on charges of making a bomb threat in 2002 in Miami-Dade. Other cases included grand theft and battery in Broward County. FBI agents brought the man into custody at the bureau’s South Florida field office in Miramar and plan to question him at length. The interview, assuming the suspect doesn’t hire a lawyer and refuse to talk, could last hours -- ranging from questions about where the suspect bought the materials to make the bomb to where he initially posted the packages for mailing to his targets. Meanwhile, agents and the US attorney’s office in South Florida would eventually write up a criminal complaint charging the man with potential terrorism and related charges. His first appearance in federal court could come over the weekend or on Monday." • National Review reports that ; "Investigators are examining the devices, which are similar to pipe bombs, to determine whether they were meant to detonate or simply to cause chaos ahead of the midterm congressional elections. The suspect owns or manages two businesses, Native American Catering and Vending and Ver Tech AG." • The New York Post says : "Sayoc was born in New York and was previously arrested in November 2002 for either throwing, placing or discharging a destructive device, sources said. Investigators found him through DNA, sources said." • • • WHO IS CESAR SAYOC? The Miami Herald, Sayoc's 'hometown' paper, says Sayoc has "a long criminal history, including a previous arrest in Miami-Dade for making a bomb threat....He was arrested in Miami-Dade in 2002 for making a bomb threat, court records show, and was sentenced to one year of probation. According to a police report obtained by CNN, Sayoc threatened to blow up Florida Power and Light and said it would be 'worse than September 11th.' He was also arrested on petty theft charges in Miami-Dade in 1992 and 2014 and sentenced to probation. Sayoc also had multiple run-ins with the law in Broward County, including for grand theft and battery. Sayoc pleaded no contest to charges of third-degree grand theft and battery on a merchant in 2014, and was arrested in 2004 for possession of a controlled substance without a prescription and with intent to sell. Those charges were dismissed in 2005. In 1991, Sayoc pleaded guilty to a charge of third-degree grand theft and was sentenced to two years’ probation and a fine. He was also involved in a domestic violence dispute with a woman named Viola Altieri, who appears to be his grandmother. Altieri filed a civil complaint against Sayoc for domestic violence in 1994. She later filed a request to dismiss the complaint." • Sayoc also has a history of financial troubles. A two-bedroom, two-bathroom home he owned in Fort Lauderdale was foreclosed on in 2009, three years after he purchased it. Sayoc filed for bankruptcy in 2012, records show. At the time, he said he worked at a Hollywood food market and owed creditors $21,000, much of it in credit card debt. • According to his Facebook page, Cesar Sayoc, 56, is from Brooklyn, New York. He grew up in Florida, where he attended North Miami Beach Senior High....Sayoc studied at Brevard College in North Carolina for three semesters in the early 1980s, but did not graduate, according to the college. He also studied at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte for one year in the mid-1980s and played soccer at the school, a spokeswoman for the university said....[Sayoc] has been registered to vote in Miami-Dade as a Republican since 2012. Federal sources said Sayoc lived in Aventura at the time of his arrest." His Facebook page feed, according to the Miami Herald, is "a mishmash of pro-Trump news stories, racist memes and fake news about Democrats. Popular targets include Islam -- which one meme calls “a barbaric evil cult” -- and Hillary Clinton....Sayoc is the manager of a catering company in Hallandale Beach called Native American Catering & Vending, according to business records. He registered a second Hallandale Beach company, VER TECH AG, in July. The address where Sayoc registered the catering company appears to be a PO Box at a Hallandale Beach post office. Employees at the post office wouldn’t say whether the FBI had searched the PO Box. There was no sign of the FBI or other law enforcement at the post office on Friday afternoon." • According to Ancestry.com, Sayoc’s father immigrated to the US from the Philippines and was naturalized in 1970 in North Miami Beach. • Despite his criminal history, however, the Miami Herald notes : "Sayoc’s criminal past wouldn’t point to his alleged bomb threats against prominent Democratic figures, said a former state and federal prosecutor who has tried both murder and terrorism cases in South Florida. 'This is not a criminal mastermind by any stretch of the imagination, but he has had numerous interactions with law enforcement,' said Miami defense attorney David Weinstein, who formerly served as the chief of the counter-terrorism section in the US attorney’s office. Something obviously triggered in him to take it one step further than he had ever gone before.' " • The most bizarre biographical note -- given the recent debate about prominent Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren -- is this. The Miami Herald says Cesar Sayoc claims to be : "affiliated with the Seminole Tribe of Florida. 'Native Americans for Trump' reads one sticker with a flag of the Seminole Tribe of Florida posted on the white passenger van that police towed from the AutoZone in Plantation where Sayoc, 56, was arrested....But the Seminole Tribe strongly denies that Sayoc has ever been a member of the prominent Native American group, which operates casinos and entertainment venues throughout Florida, including the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino near Hollywood. Tribe spokesman Gary Bitner, alluding to the many social media profiles that appear to be associated with Sayoc, flatly rejcted the assertion that Sayoc is in any way affiliated with the tribe. 'We can find no evidence that Cesar Altieri, Caesar Altieri, Caesar Altieri Sayoc, Ceasar Altieri Randazzo (Facebook) or Julus Cesar Milan (Twitter) is or was a member or employee of the Seminole Tribe of Florida, or is or was an employee of Seminole Gaming or Hard Rock International,' Bitner said in an email. 'At this time, we cannot verify if he is or was an employee of a vendor company.' ” • The Miami Herald says : "It’s not clear what Sayoc did after high school. But in a letter filed on Sayoc’s behalf in a 2013 Broward County criminal case in which he was charged with grand theft and battery, Sayoc appears to have been managing a road show for a male strip dancing company based out of Ohio. Tony Valentine, owner of Valentine Productions, wrote a letter to the court on Sayoc’s behalf in September 2014, stating that Sayoc is 'a vital part of managing and overseeing my road productions and revenue from club venues.' Reached by telephone on Friday, Valentine first said he declined comment, then expressed regret over writing the letter. 'I met him a million year ago and he got caught stealing and wanted me to write a letter to the judge down in Florida,' Valentine said. 'I never should have done that. I’ve gotten 500 phone calls today. This sh-t gets in the paper and it’s going to make it look like I know this guy.' ” • • • DEAR READERS, so, we now know that the bomb mailer, if he acted alone -- something not officially determined as yet -- was a crazy on the right. We conservatives, Republicans and Deplorable Trump supporters are now sure to be tarred with the brush of Progressive Democrat Party hate speech aimed at turning the mid-term elections to the Democrats' favor. Do not be fooled by their rhetoric. We need to hold our line -- one career criminal unhinged would-be bomber is not the representative of Republicans and conservatives who support President Trump. This sorry episode will pass. But, making America great again is still a work in progress. Vote Republican on November 6 to continue the Trump economic miracle and his against-all-odds one-man push to Make America Great Again.