(Image source from: Yahoo)

The United States prosecutors in New York on Saturday charged the Florida man accused of sending pipe bombs to critics of Donald Trump with crimes that carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.

The 56-year-old, who lived in a van covered with pro-Trump and anti-Democrat stickers earlier his October 26 arrest, was earlier hit with a five-count complaint in the sunshine state.

The registered Republican, who has a criminal past and one time reported as a stripper, was later flown to New York and appeared in a Manhattan court last week before the 30-count indictment was disclosed.

Cesar Sayoc at present stands accused of mailing 16 explosive devices, despite law enforcement officials previously alleging that he sent 11 critics of the U.S. president a whole of 13 different devices.

The charges comprise five counts of use of a arm of mass devastation for each pipe bomb mailed to and detained in the New York area, directing billionaire liberal donor George Soros, former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, actor Robert de Niro, erstwhile CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) director John Brennan and former intelligence chief James Clapper.

Sayoc is charged five times with receipt of explosives and interstate transportation and five times with menacing interstate communications.

Sayoc was as well indicted five times with illegal mailing of explosives, five times with the use of explosives to commit a crime and five times with the use of an annihilative device in the advancement of a crime of violence. Outside the New York area, Sayoc is likewise accused of sending other pipe bombs to former president Barack Obama, former vice president Joe Biden and some others.

The attempted bombings fanned tensions across the U.S. ahead of this week's midterm elections, which saw Trump keep the power of the Senate but the Democrats triumph the majority in the lower House of Representatives.

-Sowmya Sangam