Stripper, bodybuilder, DJ & pizza deliveryman: Eclectic resume of suspected mail bomber

Since the suspected US mail bomber was named, strange details about his past have started to emerge in the media. He is an ex-stripper and bodybuilder who worked as a pizza deliveryman and… attacked his granny?

Cesar Sayoc from Florida was charged with five federal crimes on Friday and now faces up to 48 years in prison. He is believed to have sent improvised explosive devices – which never actually detonated – to high-profile Democrat figures.

Even before the suspect's name was confirmed by law enforcers, the media started to methodically dig into Sayoc's past – his jobs, family and political preferences. And they did find some juicy details!

It turned out that the 56-year-old man worked as a bouncer and a stripper at nightclubs, according to his cousin, who called his relative "the maniac who's been doing this [mailing pipe bombs]."

And that wasn't the end of Sayoc's string of odd jobs: he once worked as a DJ and as a Papa John's pizza deliveryman. He apparently lacked talent as a disc jockey, however, and sometimes let songs run for so long that dancers would start to complain. "He wasn't doing his job, I'll tell you that," the suspect's longtime friend and fellow DJ Scott Meigs admitted. "He wasn't paying attention."

The mail bomb suspect was an avid bodybuilder, he trained in mixed martial arts and hoped to become a pro wrestler, but steroid abuse did nothing to make his dream come true. Distribution of steroids was among a litany of offenses for which he was brought to court in the past. Back in 1994, he was also accused of domestic violence by a woman who was reportedly his grandmother.

Having a long history of financial problems and an extensive arrest record, Sayoc lived with his parents (other reports say his mother and her husband) in a condo complex in the Aventura suburb of Miami. However, he recently began sleeping in his now-notorious van, which was covered with pro-Trump posters.

Of all his diverse hobbies and interests, one seems to have recently occupied all of his free time – his fervent support for Trump and his deep hatred for the Democrats. Police recently found photos of some victims whose images were crossed out with a red 'X.'

Cesar Altieri Sayoc appears in a police booking photo © Reuters

Media content distributed online show Sayoc wearing a red MAGA baseball cap and attending at least one of the rallies for then-US presidential candidate Donald Trump back in 2016. With dozens of fake Sayoc social media accounts now emerging, it's difficult to tell what Sayoc actually shared. The Miami Herald claims that he was a devoted fan of conspiracy theories, who believed that German Chancellor Angela Merkel is a secret daughter of Adolf Hitler, and that Oprah Winfrey wants to eliminate all white people.

Sayoc's arrest capped a week in which pipe bombs sent to some of America's biggest names – Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Robert De Niro – dominated the media. Over the past week, suspicious packages were sent to CNN, billionaire George Soros, former spymasters John Brennan and James Clapper, and a number of other prominent people.

Mainstream media blamed Trump's "hateful rhetoric" for the packages. Reacting to reports, Trump slammed the media for using the recent "sinister" string of anti-Democrat bomb mailings to blame him for inciting political violence. "We have seen an effort by the media in the recent hours to use sinister actions of one individual to score points against me and the Republican party," he argued.

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