GREENSBORO, N.C. — Oran Routh pleaded not guilty in federal court Tuesday and was released, according to court docs.
The trial date is set for December 9.
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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 a 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 of 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 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.
There was no attorney listed for Oran Routh in court papers. Phone messages for Oran Routh and relatives listed in public records were not immediately returned.
He is scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 1.
However, this isn't his first run-in with police. His former landlord says he can remember at least a half dozen times police were called.
"Oren Routh rented a place for me about a year ago. He was pretty much belligerent from the beginning," Mark Fargotstein said.
Court records show police in Guilford and Wake counties have arrested or written citations for Oran Routh several times, ranging from traffic violations to shoplifting, simple possession, hit and runs and assaulting a woman.
"It was two weeks into it when my property manager called me and told me about an incident, and at that point, I did start wondering about renting to Oran," Fargotstein said. "There was still the woman living there. The police were called at least five or six times."
Fargotstein said Oran got so out of hand that he remembers having to call Ryan Routh to the rental on Pinecroft Road to remove Oran from the home.
"My interactions with him were mainly about how his son was acting and if he could control him and help get him out of the house, and he said, 'yep, I'll get him out of the house for you. We're gonna go rent a place. He's always been like this since he was a kid.'"
(Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.)
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