Pipe bomb suspect: Cesar Sayoc, Jr. in custody for allegedly sending suspicious packages

A Florida man with a troubled past was identified Friday as the suspect who sent more than a dozen pipe bomb packages to prominent critics of President Donald Trump, law enforcement officials said.

DNA evidence played a role in the arrest of 56-year-old Cesar Sayoc Jr., whose past criminal history includes an arrest for making a bomb threat — and who, according to a cousin, worked as both an exotic dancer and bouncer in a number of strip clubs.

Sayoc's white van, which had pictures of Trump and the presidential seal plastered to the windows, was seized by the officials and hauled off to a secure facility.
In Washington, Trump praised the FBI and Secret Service for the swift arrest of the suspect.

"It’s like a needle in a haystack," Trump said. "And they have done an incredible, incredible job."

Sayoc has a criminal record in Florida and was arrested in 2002 for making a bomb threat, according to Miami-Dade County court records. He pleaded guilty. There were also two arrests, one in 1992 and the other in 2014, for petit theft.

In the latter theft case, Sayoc tried to walk out of a Walmart with a shopping cart filled with $239 worth of merchandise, according to an arrest affidavit.