Siblings who fled to China charged over bomb planted outside US Air Force base
Alen Zheng remains at large, while Ann Mary Zheng was arrested after she returned to the US; their mother has been detained for deportation
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 on 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 US citizenship, US 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 defence lawyer for Ann Mary Zheng declined to comment. Online court records did not list a lawyer for Alen Zheng.