Pipe bomb suspect Cesar Sayoc told his lesbian boss she was a ‘deformity’

The US pipe bomb suspect, identified as Cesar Sayoc after his arrest on October 26, was outspoken in his homophobia and racism, his boss recalled in a series of interviews.

Sayoc, a Florida resident, worked part-time as a pizza delivery man at the New River Pizza & Fresh Kitchen in Fort Lauderdale, under the management of self-described “proud lesbian.”

Gureghian told CNN she was “shocked” to hear he had been arrested under suspicion of sending 14 explosive devices to prominent Democrats—including former President Barack Obama, former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton—as well as individuals and organisations that President Donald Trump and his supporters have often criticised, such as businessman and philanthropist George Soros and CNN.

But, she added, she knew of his extreme political views. “He was anti-gay, anti-black, anti-Jewish—you name it. Everybody who wasn’t white or wasn’t a white supremacist didn’t belong in the world. That what he used to say to me all the time.”

Sayoc has precedents for domestic violence, theft and fraud as well as previously threatening to bomb a power company, Reuters reported. He is due to appear in court on Monday (October 29) where he will be formally charged, and could face up to 48 years in prison if convicted, according to CNN.

Cesar Sayoc poses for a mugshot photo in Miami, Florida. (Broward County Sheriff’s Office via Getty)

 

In an interview to the Miami Herald, Gureghian said she had no grounds to fire Sayoc as he was a “dependable” employee although she would sometimes “go in the back and cry” because of the things he said to her.

 

“When he found out I was a lesbian the second day, he told me I should burn in hell and I was a deformity, that God made a mistake with me and I should go on an island with Hillary Clinton and Rachel Maddow and Ellen Degeneres and President Barack Obama and all the misfits of the world,” she told the Florida-based publication.

A van covered in blue tarp is towed by FBI investigators on October 26, 2018, in Plantation, Florida, in connection to the pipe bombs and suspicious packages mailed to top Democrats. (Michele Eve Sandberg/AFP/Getty)

Gureghian said Sayoc would say that if he had it his way, he’d have ‘gotten rid’ of Hispanics, blacks and LGBT+ people. She recalled: “The Hispanics, they don’t speak any English, we got to get rid of them,” he would say. “And we got to get rid of the blacks, all they do is steal, and the gays and lesbians are never going to have any kids, so they’re deformed, we’ve got to get rid of them.”

Speaking to the Huffington Post, Gureghian said that Sayoc “wanted to go back to the Hitler days—he loved that” and that the van he was driving contained headless dolls as well as various posters featuring Ku Klux Klan slogans and Nazi imagery.

The authorities have confiscated the van and covered it with blue tarp so that the offending images could not be seen, but people who had spotted the vehicle in the past posted pictures on social media showing its sides plastered with pictures of Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence, slogans such as “CNN sucks” and images of Democrats like Clinton with bulls eyes superimposed on their faces.