Brother and sister are charged after an explosive device was found
outside a Florida Air Force base
[March 27, 2026]
By DAVID FISCHER
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A man who fled to China after leaving an
explosive device outside MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa has been
indicted along with his sister in Florida on federal charges, and their
mother has been detained pending deportation for overstaying 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 had flown with her brother after the threat. Both
have U.S. citizenship, U.S. Attorney Gregory Kehoe said during a news
conference.
The device didn’t detonate, but “could have potentially been very
deadly,” 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. 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, Kehoe said.
A federal public defender declined to comment on the charges against the
siblings.
The suspicious package went undiscovered for nearly a week, but the
investigation developed very quickly after it was found on March 16,
Kehoe said.
Agents determined that Alen Zheng actually planted the device on March
10 and made a 911 call minutes later saying there was a bomb at the
base, he said. Then he and his sister sold their Mercedes-Benz SUV,
bought tickets to China, and were gone by March 12th.
Air Force personnel had searched the sprawling base without discovering
the device initially. When it was found outside the visitors center,
investigators kicked into high gear. They 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 matching the
explosive, Kehoe said.
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The U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base is seen, Feb. 6,
2017, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
Agents also searched the family's home and reported finding
explosive device components. Meanwhile, the device found outside the
base's gate 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. “We’re exploring every avenue we can to get him back to the
United States,” Kehoe 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.
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