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

Sep 24, 2024 | 9:47 AM

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

Oran Routh was arrested this week after authorities searched his Greensboro, North Carolina, home “in connection with an investigation unrelated to child exploitation,” an FBI official said in court papers.

Investigators seized multiple electronic devices and found hundreds of files depicting child sexual abuse, according to the court papers. He faces two charges of possessing and receiving child sexual abuse material.

Oran Routh’s father is Ryan Wesley Routh, who is accused in the assassination attempt of Trump at a golf course in Florida earlier this month. Ryan Routh has been charged with federal gun offenses but prosecutors have indicated much more serious attempted assassination charges were coming.

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

There was no attorney listed for Oran Routh in court papers. Phone messages left for relatives of Oran Routh were not immediately returned.

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

Prosecutors have said Ryan Routh left behind a note detailing his plans to kill the former president and kept in his car a handwritten list of dates and venues where Trump was to appear. The note describing Routh’s plans was placed in a box that he dropped off months earlier at the home of an unidentified person who did not open it until after Ryan Routh’s arrest, prosecutors said.

Alanna Durkin Richer, The Associated Press