US Mail Bomb Suspect to Appear in Election Day Court Hearing

An American man charged with mailing pipe bombs to high-profile Democratic politicians and other critics of U.S. President Donald Trump makes his first appearance Tuesday in federal court in New York, reports VOA News.

Prosecutors are expected to argue that Cesar Sayoc, who was transferred from federal custody in Florida, is too dangerous to be released on bail.

U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York wrote in a letter to U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Lehrburger that “the evidence gathered to date demonstrates the dangerousness of the defendant and creates significant incentives for him to flee.”

The former stripper and pizza delivery driver was arrested on October 26 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and charged with five federal crimes. Sayoc, who lived in a white van adorned with right-wing political images supporting Trump and denouncing Trump’s critics, was apprehended after an intense manhunt.

Sayoc has been accused of mailing 16 pipe bombs, some of which were sent to former president’s Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, billionaire financier George Soros and CNN.

None of the bombs exploded before being intercepted and no one was injured.

Sayoc faces up to 48 years in prison if he is convicted of the five charges that were filed in New York because some of the bombs were recovered there.