by Evie Fordham
A judge sentenced mail bomber Cesar Sayoc to 20 years in prison Monday after he pleaded guilty to sending pipe bombs last year to multiple high-profile Democrats and critics of President Donald Trump.
“Now that I am a sober man, I know that I a very sick man,” Sayoc said, according to CNBC. “I wish more than anything that I could turn back time and take back what I did. … I feel the pain and suffering of these victims.”
District Judge Jed Rakoff called Sayoc’s offenses “horrendous” during the sentencing.
“While none of the devices exploded … at the very least they were intended to strike fear and terror into the minds of their victims and to intimidate those victims, mostly prominent political figures, from exercising their freedom,” Rakoff said.
Sayoc pleaded guilty in March after sending 16 mail bombs to 13 people in all, according to CNBC.
The Florida man made more than a dozen improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, from PVC pipes packed with explosive material and shards of glass. He sent them to national figures in October, including former Vice President Joe Biden and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Sayoc was living in a van described as “plastered with stickers praising Trump and attacking the media” when he was arrested in Florida.
Intended recipients of the packages included:
- Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif.
- Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif.
- Former President Barack Obama
- Former CIA Director John Brennan
- Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
- Billionaire financier George Soros
- Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper
- Actor Robert De Niro
- Former Vice President Joe Biden
- Former Attorney General Eric Holder
- Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J.
- Billionaire activist Tom Steyer
- CNN
The office of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., also received a package after that office’s address was used as a return address.
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Evie Fordham is a reporter for the Daily Caller News Foundation.
