FBI: Son of suspect in Trump assassination attempt arrested on child sex abuse charges

WASHINGTON (AP) — The son of the man suspected of attempting to assassinate former President Donald Trump in Florida has been arrested on federal charges of possessing child sexual abuse images.

Oran Alexander Routh was arrested this week after authorities searched his Greensboro, North Carolina, home “in connection with an investigation unrelated to child exploitation” and found hundreds of files detailing child sexual abuse, an FBI agent said in court documents.

Detectives who seized multiple electronic devices found videos sent to Oran Routh in July, as well as chats from a messaging app often used by people sharing child pornography, the FBI agent said.

He is charged with two counts of possessing and receiving child abuse material and is expected to appear in federal court in North Carolina later on Tuesday.

No attorney for Oran Routh was listed in court documents. Phone messages left for Oran Routh’s family members were not immediately returned.

Oran Routh’s father, Ryan Wesley Routh, has been charged with federal weapons offenses in connection with the attempted murder at Trump’s Florida golf course earlier this month. Prosecutors have indicated that far more serious attempted murder charges are forthcoming.

Oran Routh’s arrest was first reported by ABC News on Tuesday.

A federal judge on Monday agreed with Justice Department prosecutors that Ryan Routh should remain in custody while he awaits trial.

Prosecutors have said Ryan Routh left a note detailing his plans to kill the former president and kept a handwritten list of dates and locations where Trump would appear in his car. The note with Routh’s plans was in a box he left months earlier at the home of an unknown person who did not open it until after Ryan Routh was arrested, prosecutors said.

Ryan Routh is currently facing charges of illegally possessing a firearm, despite multiple felony convictions, including two counts of receiving stolen property in 2002 in North Carolina and one count of possessing a firearm with a defaced serial number.

But a prosecutor said in court Monday that they would file additional charges with a grand jury, accusing him of trying to “assassinate a major political candidate” — charges that would carry a penalty of life in prison if convicted.

It is common for prosecutors to first file charges that are easier to prove, before introducing more serious allegations later in the case.

Ryan Routh was arrested on September 15 after a Secret Service agent canvassing Trump International Golf Club for possible security risks saw the face of a partially obscured man and the barrel of a semi-automatic rifle pointed directly at the former president.

The officer fired at Routh, who fled before being apprehended by officers in a neighboring county, leaving behind a loaded gun, a digital camera, a backpack and a reusable shopping bag hanging from a fence.