Klobuchar Didn't Dismiss Charges Against Cesar Sayoc: County

MINNEAPOLIS — The Hennepin County Attorney's Office wants to "set the record straight" on mail bombing suspect Cesar Sayoc and the charges filed against him in Minnesota in 1995. The county released a statement Tuesday after Republican Senate candidate Jim Newberger accused his opponent — Sen. Amy Klobuchar — of letting Sayoc go while she was the Hennepin County attorney.

“She let him go,” Newberger told KMSP Saturday. “We are still digging into this, but she does have a connection to this individual.”

Sayoc, 56, was arrested Friday in connection with 13 makeshift bombs that were mailed to Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, CNN's Columbus Circle bureau and Robert De Niro's Tribeca office and restaurant, among others, law enforcement officials said.

Sayoc's Minnesota connection

Sayoc was charged more than two decades ago in Hennepin County with theft by swindle over $500 and fifth-degree possession of .5 grams of crack cocaine. He was charged with "the lowest level felony drug crime at the time," officials noted in the statement Tuesday.

A warrant was issued and bail of $5,000 was set. However, Sayoc was not arrested on those charges until August 2005. The county said the charges were eventually dismissed by an assistant Hennepin County attorney on Sept. 8, 2005, not then-county attorney Amy Klobuchar.

The drug charge was dismissed because the suspected drugs were destroyed in 1997, though it's not clear why the theft charge was dropped as well.

"While there no longer are any records on why the theft by swindle charge was dropped, standard practice would be to determine if there was still sufficient evidence and witness availability 10 years later," Tuesday's statement read.

"If not, the case would have to be dismissed."

According to the Star Tribune, Sayoc was accused of purchasing vitamins and growth supplements from stores in the metro before filling those same packages back up with beans and returning them to get a refund.

Court records show Sayoc had a Plymouth address, KSTP reported.

Sayoc charged in terror-by-mail plot

Handcuffed and wearing a tan prison jumpsuit, suspected mail bomber Cesar Sayoc became teary-eyed when he spotted his estranged sister, Tina, in a packed Miami courtroom Monday.

Read more: Suspected Mail Bomber Fights Tears When He Sees Sister

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