The son of Trump’s alleged would-be assassin is charged over child sex abuse images
As Ryan Routh faces mounting charges over the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at his Florida golf course earlier this month, his adult son has been arrested in connection with a completely different set of alleged misdeeds.
Oran Routh, 35, was charged in a North Carolina federal court on Monday with one count each of receipt and possession of images of child sexual abuse, court records show. He was arrested the following day.
An FBI special agent laid out the basis of the charges in a four-page criminal complaint, in which he explains that the FBI searched Oran Routh’s Greensboro, N.C., residence on Saturday “in connection with an investigation unrelated to child exploitation.”
It’s not clear whether the investigation in question is related to Routh’s father, though ABC News and CNN cite unnamed sources as saying so. A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of North Carolina declined to elaborate beyond court filings.
Once at the house — of which Routh is the sole occupant — they recovered multiple electronic devices from his room and person, and later obtained warrants to search them.
On one phone, which had been stored inside a laptop bag, they found hundreds of files with child sexual abuse, including “videos from a known child pornography series created outside the state of North Carolina.” Videos from the unnamed series depict minors engaged in sex acts, according to the complaint.
A second phone, taken from Routh himself, revealed more. In the downloads folder, investigators found a video showing a female adult engaging in sexual acts with a younger girl, approximately 6-8 years old.
The complaint says the phone also had chats from a messaging application that is commonly used by people who distribute and receive child sex abuse imagery.
It points to a July chat in which the phone’s user — presumably Routh — responded to an account that was advertising cloud storage links for sale, by asking for a preview of the content. That individual responded with two graphic videos of adults engaging in sexual acts with minors.
A public defender listed in court filings as representing Routh has not responded to NPR’s request for comment.
Routh appeared in court for a preliminary hearing Wednesday. Prosecutors are asking that he be detained pending trial; he has a detention hearing scheduled for the afternoon of Oct. 1.
Oran Routh publicly defended his father last week
Records from the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction show that Routh was arrested in 2016 on charges of assaulting a female and interfering with emergency communications, both misdemeanors.
A LinkedIn account belonging to a person by the name of Oran Routh lists him as a customer service representative at Xerox Business Services and mentions “many years working for my family business.”
His dad, Ryan Routh, ran a roofing business in North Carolina at one point and more recently owned a company that built tiny homes in Hawaii — whose website prominently features another son, Adam.
He is facing five charges in connection with the Florida incident, including three weapons charges, assaulting a federal officer and — as of Tuesday— attempting to assassinate a presidential candidate, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Oran publicly came to his dad’s defense after his arrest last week, saying in a statement that “I don’t have any comment beyond a character profile of him as a loving and caring father and an honest, hardworking man.”
In the occupied West Bank, Palestinians struggle to access water
For Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, access to water has been a struggle for years. But since last Oct. 7, water has become even harder for them to obtain.
Some don’t evacuate despite repeated hurricane warnings — because they can’t
People with disabilities, people who can't afford it and people who don't want to abandon their pets are among the many who can't easily get up and leave before a hurricane.
Sudanese refugees fled to Chad with hope. What they found is a bitter irony
It is the world's largest displacement crisis: 13 million people have fled their homes in war-torn Sudan. In neighboring Chad, both refugees and locals cope with this extraordinary upheaval.
GPB morning headlines for September 25, 2024
Tropical Storm Helene is expected to become a major hurricane. South Georgia farmers are preparing for heavy winds and rain as Tropical Storm Helene makes its way towards the state.
California’s first plastic bag ban made things worse. Now it’s trying again
California and other states -- and some cities -- have learned a lesson: Bans on plastic bags don’t always go as planned. In fact, California's original ban made things worse.
Uzo Aduba thanks her mom: ‘I didn’t know how many prayers she sent up to heaven for me’
The Orange Is the New Black actor grew up the daughter of Nigerian immigrants in a predominantly white Massachusetts suburb. She looks back on her mother's influence in the memoir, The Road Is Good.
