Suspect in U.S. Mail Bomb Case Appears to Have Shared anti-Semitic Posts to Social Media

NEW YORK - Several social media accounts, supposedly belonging to the suspected of sending at least a dozen parcel bombs to high-profile critics of U.S. President Donald Trump, contained anti-Semitic memes along with other pro-Trump and anti-Democratic posts.

Cesar Altieri Sayoc, 56, was arrested on Friday and charged on five federal accounts with connections to mail bombs sent to George Soros, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, CNN and several high profile Democrats.

Sayoc used to work as a former male stripper and professional wrestler, and has a long arrest record. He was also a club promoter in Florida. Over the years, he was arrested for domestic violence, theft and fraud. In 2002 he was charged with threatening to bomb a power utility for trying to shut off the lights of a Laundromat he owned at the time, telling a company representative it would be "worse than September 11th," according to a Miami police report.

Facebook announced in a statement on Friday that it had removed the suspect's account. Twitter also suspended Sayoc's account.

>> Suspect in U.S. mail bomb case identified as Republican with criminal history ■ Soros, CNN, Obama and the Clintons: Trump's incitement turns into real threats | Analysis

• Pipe Bombs Sent to Obama, Clinton and CNN N.Y. Headquarters
• Suspect in U.S. Mail Bomb Case Identified as Republican With Criminal History
• George Soros' Son: Trump's anti-Semitic, anti-Democratic Rhetoric Led to Bomb Scare

Sayoc used the accounts to post mainly pro-Trump related memes and conspiracy theories attacking Democratic figures. Among them were posts about Barack Obama, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, billionaire George Soros and former President George W. Bush. The accounts also contained links to YouTube videos of religious leader Louis Farrakhan, a Trump supporter who has previously compared Jews to termites.

Many of the memes and posts on the account were centered around George Soros, who received an explosive device in the mail Monday. One meme, posted in March, featured a diagram of the “Controlled False Opposition,” showing Gorge Soros at the top, along with a quote referring to Soros as a “Judeo-plutocratic Bolshevik Zionist,” and a photograph of George W. Bush lighting Hanukkah candles.

Another meme posted earlier this year portrayed Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asking Obama, “Why did you spend $350k to interfere in Israel’s election?”

The account also contained a shared post about California Congresswoman Maxine Waters by Stefan Molyneux, a Canadian radio host and YouTube personality who the Washington Post described as “one of the alt-right's biggest YouTube stars.” The FBI intercepted two packages addressed to Waters Wednesday.

Soros was the first to receive a package that contained a pipe bomb-like device earlier this week. Others packages that were intercepted had been addressed to the Clintons, Maxine Waters, actor Robert De Niro, former attorney general Eric Holder, former CIA director John Brennan and Democratic Senator Cory Booker.

The account was created in April 2016 and the first posts dates back to June 2016.

Reuters contributed to this report