BOCA RATON, Fla. – The first thing that stood out about Cesar Sayoc was his vehicle.

As far back as 2002, lawyer Ronald Lowy recalled, the windows of Sayoc's white Dodge Ram van were covered in stickers of Native American regalia. Though Sayoc was Filipino and Italian, he claimed to be a proud member of the Seminole tribe, Lowy said.

The lie was one of many Sayoc would spread about himself over the years. He falsely claimed to have worked as a Chippendales dancer, and he was once charged with fraud for modifying his driver's license to make it appear he was younger, said Lowy, who represented him in the case.

Sayoc seemed to have a new business venture every three months, though none was successful. He worked as a DJ or bouncer at strip clubs, dabbled in bodybuilding, and spent much of the past decade living out of his van, Lowy said.

“He made up stories in order to try to impress people,” Lowy said. “He felt like he didn't have a background that he respected or liked.”

Then Donald Trump burst onto the political scene.

Sayoc, a 56-year-old Florida man who friends and other associates say had never shown any interest in politics, suddenly began sharing images of himself on Facebook at Trump campaign events. He signed up for Twitter, where he trafficked in conspiracy theories and conservative memes. He registered as a Republican to vote in Florida – Lowy said he believes it was for the first time in Sayoc's life – in 2016. He traded out his Native American decals for ones that supported Trump.

“Had no interest in politics, was always at the night clubs, the gyms, wherever he thought he could meet people, impress people. And along came the presidential campaign of Donald Trump, who welcomed all extremists, all outsiders, all outliers, and he felt that somebody was finally talking to him,” Lowy said.

On Friday, federal authorities arrested Sayoc and charged him with sending more than a dozen potential bombs to various Democratic and media figures who have been critical of Trump. Sayoc is expected to appear in federal court in Miami for the first time Monday afternoon.

Signs of instability

Long before Sayoc was political, he was troubled.

He was charged with several crimes throughout the years, including theft, battery, fraud and steroid possession, according to court records and interviews with his previous lawyers. Lowy said that when he was asked to represent Sayoc in 2002, it was because Sayoc – then running a laundromat – had failed to pay his electric bill and threatened to bomb Florida Power & Light. A police report alleges Sayoc said the incident would be “worse than Sept. 11 [2001].”

Lowy said his initial thought of the allegation was: “What type of crazy terrorist is this?”

“And then this man comes into my office carrying a scrapbook of pictures of people he had pictures with, driving a vehicle like no one's vehicle looks, and I realized I had an oddball here,” Lowy said. “In 2002, he said stupid things, but he wasn't yet a bomber. Is it a sign that he used the words? Maybe it's a sign of what he could become.”

Lowy, who now represents Sayoc's mother and his two sisters, said Sayoc's father left when he was a child and was not involved in his life. Lowy said Sayoc's mother and other family members prodded Sayoc “to get mental help, counseling, to look for therapy, to stop making up stories, and every time they tried to make a suggestion, he would get angry.” The last time they spoke – more than three years ago – Lowy said Sayoc told his mother that he hated her.

Sayoc attended some college in North Carolina and worked intermittently over the past 20 years as a DJ and bodyguard at strip clubs around South Florida, those who worked with him say – starting out as the person who provides security for dancers and scoops cash off the stage.

Stacy Saccal, the general manager at Ultra Gentlemen's Club in West Palm Beach, where Sayoc worked for the past two months, said Sayoc came recommended by someone at another club, and he was “a super nice guy.” She said he worked his last shift on the Thursday before his arrest.

“He was funny, he was entertaining,” Saccal said. “The situation is strange, it's unbelievable.”

Scott Meigs, a DJ at Ultra, not far from the Trump International Golf Course, said he knew Sayoc from previous gigs – though they had been out of touch for a few years before reconnecting at Ultra in the past month.

Sayoc, Meigs said, had a sudden new interest.

“When I hooked up with him here at this club, he started talking politics all the time,” Meigs said. “Just stuff, trying to get people to vote for Republicans. If he was watching something on the news, he'd say, 'see, see.'?”

New identity

It is unclear precisely when Sayoc's interest in politics began, though his social media suggests it appeared to intensify alongside Trump's presidential campaign.

On June18, 2015, his Facebook account expressed early enthusiasm for Trump, who announced his candidacy for president two days earlier. “Donald Trump the nxt great president all native red man tribes support and Billion followers,” the account said, according to images provided to The Post by Columbia University social media researcher Jonathan Albright, who downloaded them Friday before Facebook removed the information.

Sayoc created one Twitter account on May20, 2016, and he soon began sharing positive sentiments about Trump and attacks on Trump's opponents.

The posts are a mixture of wild conspiracy theories and hints of violence. He tweeted dozens of times about former president Barack Obama, former president Bill Clinton, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, former attorney general Eric Holder, liberal billionaire George Soros and Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif. All of them were recipients of potential explosives.

He seemed to harbor a particular disdain for Hollywood and the media – responding to an article about a shooting at the Capital Gazette newspaper in Maryland with the message, “If it were lying BS news long overdo.”

Lowy said he believed Sayoc found a home, albeit a dark one, in the world of conservative trolls.

“This is someone who didn't fit into society,” Lowy said. “This is someone that needed to be reached out to. He got lost, and sadly, he got found by the wrong group.” Associated Press

A van belonging to Cesar Sayoc, covered with an assortment of political stickers, is pictured in November 2017 in Wells, Fla.Sayoc