Overview
- A federal judge is weighing pretrial release for Ann Mary Zheng after prosecutors asked that she be held without bond as a flight risk.
- Investigators say a viable homemade bomb was found near MacDill Air Force Base’s visitor center in March after a phoned threat, and later recovered parts at the family’s Land O’Lakes home that matched it.
- Alen Zheng faces federal explosives charges and is believed to be in China, which has no extradition treaty with the United States.
- Prosecutors say Ann Mary used ChatGPT to look up a Chinese visa, ways to transfer her brother’s property, and schools in China to aid his escape.
- Local reporting says the siblings’ parents are in immigration custody and face removal after earlier asylum bids were denied.