Police arrested Cesar Sayoc, a suspect in the pipe bomb packages sent in the mail to at least 13 people this week in Miami on Friday. The 56-year-old Florida man has been charged with five federal crimes and could face up to 58 years in prison. Targets of his mailings included former president Barack Obama and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton.
As investigators begin unraveling a motive for the alleged attempted terrorist act, financial records and social media posts indicate that, like millions of Americans, Sayoc may have been a victim of the 2008 Great Recession.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Sayoc worked in adult entertainment. He lists that work as including positions as a “promoter, booking agent, and choreographer.” Sayoc’s cousin told NBC News that Sayoc had worked as a bouncer in several strip clubs. He also worked as a stripper, as well as a wrestler.
In 2009, Sayoc faced foreclosure on property he owned, according to NBC News. Then In 2012, Sayoc filed for bankruptcy and listed in the filing that he was living with his mother. He wrote that he had $4,175 in personal property and $21,109 in liabilities. Among his personal assets listed were $50 in clothing, a 2001 Chevy Tahoe worth $2,975, and a $1,150 tax refund, according to Talking Points Memo.
He worked for a time as a grocery store manager before he was since kicked out by his parents, according to NBC and CNN, and appeared to have been living in a white van covered with Donald Trump stickers, which authorities towed away on Friday. Most recently, Sayoc drove his truck to deliver pizzas until he quit that job in January, according to the Washington Post.
Sayoc frequently shared memes on his Facebook page, which has since been taken down. Before it was, Coins2Day was able to view images posted to Sayoc’s page that were often overtly anti-Obama and anti-Clinton, two of the more prominent targets to whom he allegedly sent pipe bombs this week. But one post about the recession stood out among the other memes that Sayoc shared repeatedly on his Facebook page, claiming there had been no economic recovery following the 2008 stock market crash.
Https://www.facebook.com/DollarVigilante/videos/1256180944394333/
Sayoc has an arrest record of over a dozen apprehensions and plead guilty to a 2002 felony bomb threat charge, according to the Post. He also once threatened to blow up Florida Power and Light Co., which he threatened would be “worse than September 11th.” According to CNN.