FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A man who fled to China and his sister have been charged after an explosive device was left outside a gate at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa this month. Their mother was detained for deportation, having overstayed her visa, a federal prosecutor said Thursday.
Alen Zheng, 20, and Ann Mary Zheng, 27, were charged Wednesday in separate federal indictments. The sister was arrested upon her return from China, where she flew with her brother after the threat. Both have U.S. citizenship, U.S. Attorney Gregory Kehoe said during a news conference.
“If you threaten to harm somebody or if you harm somebody in the Middle District of Florida, you will be brought to task,” Kehoe said.
Alen Zheng faces 40 years in prison if convicted of attempting to damage government property and unlawfully making and possessing the explosive device found in a package outside the base. Ann Mary Zheng faces 30 years if found guilty of witness tampering and being an accessory after the fact to the crime, by allegedly selling the car he used to drop off the package.
A defense attorney for Ann Mary Zheng declined to comment. Online court records didn’t list an attorney for Alen Zheng.
Kehoe said the investigation developed very quickly after a suspicious package was found outside MacDill on March 16. Agents determined that Alen Zheng actually planted the device on March 10 before making a 911 call to inform authorities about the bomb. Air Force personnel had searched the base without discovering the device initially.
The day after the 911 call, the Zhengs sold their Mercedes-Benz SUV and flew to China. Ann Mary returned to the U.S. several days later. By then, investigators had used phone data to connect the 911 call to Alen Zheng, and spotted the SUV on surveillance video. By the time they reached CarMax, the car had been vacuumed and cleaned, but they were still able to find evidence including residue from the explosive, Kehoe said.
When agents executed a warrant at the family’s home, they reported finding explosive device components. Meanwhile, the device was flown by helicopter to an FBI lab in Huntsville, Alabama, for further examination, FBI Special Agent in Charge Matthew Fodor said.
Kehoe said he’s not sure if the siblings also have Chinese citizenship. He said they have no immediate evidence that Alen Zheng was working on behalf of the Chinese government or any other country. Officials are working to have him returned to the U.S. to face prosecution, he said.
The U.S. Central Command is located at MacDill and is responsible for U.S. military operations in the Middle East, Central Asia and parts of South Asia. MacDill is one of the U.S. bases that has been on heightened alert since the war in Iran began.
Another man was arrested earlier this week on charges of making threatening phone calls to the base days after the device was discovered, though investigators haven’t accused that caller of planting any devices. There was no immediate connection between that caller and the Zhengs.
