By Jonathan Allen, Brad Brooks and Andrew Hay
(Reuters) - (This Sept 16 story has been corrected to say 'weapon,' not 'gun' in paragraph 1, and to clarify that Routh pleaded guilty to an April 2002 incident of possessing an illegal explosive device, not a December 2002 incident of possessing an illegal fully automatic gun, in paragraphs 7 to 9. The December weapons charge was dismissed.)
The erratic life of a struggling roofing contractor suspected of trying to shoot Donald Trump swerved from bounced checks to a weapon felony conviction and a quixotic plan to help Ukraine fight Russia's invasion, before culminating in what appears to be a foiled assassination plot.
Ryan Routh, 58, was charged with two gun-related crimes in a federal court in Florida on Monday, a day after he was spotted with a rifle hiding in shrubbery on the property line of Trump's golf course. More charges are expected.
Officials have not cited any possible motives.
Routh mocked President Joe Biden on social media and suggested in a 2023 self-published book that he voted for Trump in 2016. But he then wrote that backing Trump was a “terrible mistake” and at various points described the former president as a “fool,” a “buffoon,” and an “idiot.”
Addressing Iran, Routh wrote that “you are free to assassinate Trump” for the former president’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018.
In his 291-page book “Ukraine’s Unwinnable War,” Routh argued that democracy needed defending around the world and the United States had its own “catastrophe” on Jan 6, 2021, “perpetrated by Donald Trump and his undemocratic posse.”
Court records showed Routh has a long history of breaking traffic laws, not paying his taxes on time and writing bad checks. But it was in 2002 that he lost his right to own a gun when he pleaded guilty to a felony in North Carolina for possessing an illegal explosive device in April.
Months after his arrest in that case while released on a bond, Routh fled from a traffic stop by a police officer near his home in Greensboro, North Carolina, and barricaded himself inside his roofing business for several hours before police were able to arrest him for having a concealed handgun without a permit, according to court records and a 2002 news article by the Greensboro News & Record.
A few days later, Routh pleaded guilty to possession of what court records described as a "binary explosive with a 10-inch detonation cord and a blasting cap," which is defined in North Carolina law as a weapon of mass destruction and is a felony punishable by up to 59 months in prison, according to the county district attorney's office and the Guilford County Superior Court clerk's office. He was sentenced to probation.
Eight years later, he again pleaded guilty to felonies after he was charged with possession of stolen goods: a blowtorch, a pull-cart and a power cord, according to the district attorney's office. As the owner of several roofing companies, he has been repeatedly sued by people accusing him of not paying his bills.
The FBI said on Monday that it received a tip in 2019 that Routh was a felon in possession of a firearm - prohibited by federal law - but that the person who made that tip would later not confirm the information during an interview with agents.
The FBI relayed the tip to local authorities in Hawaii, where Routh moved in 2018 after decades in North Carolina.
POSTS ON UKRAINE, DEMOCRACY
Reuters found profiles on X, Facebook (NASDAQ:META) and LinkedIn for a Ryan Routh, and public access to the Facebook and X profiles was removed hours after the shooting.
The three accounts bearing Routh's name showed he supported Ukraine in its war against Russia.
On April 21, Routh directed an X message to Elon Musk, writing: "I would like to buy a rocket from you. I wish to load it with a warhead for Putins Black sea mansion bunker to end him. Can you give me a price please."
The New York Times reported it had interviewed Routh in 2023 for an article about Americans who were volunteering to help the Ukraine war effort. Routh told the Times he traveled to Ukraine, spent several months there in 2022 and was trying to recruit Afghan soldiers who fled the Taliban to fight in Ukraine.
One current and another former U.S. volunteer serving with the foreign legion of Ukraine's army said they recalled Routh and believed that he spent time in the western Ukrainian city of Ivano-Frankivsk. Both of them said he exhibited odd behavior.
Routh was blocked from the "Volunteers for Ukraine" chat group on Signal last year and blacklisted, after appearing "delusional" with promises to bring foreign volunteer recruits to the country despite having no military background, said a former U.S. volunteer with the legion, who asked not to be named.
While on leave in the west from battle in Ukraine, he and fellow volunteers tried their best to avoid Routh and others who made such grand promises, the volunteer told Reuters.
The International Legion, where many foreign fighters in Ukraine serve, said it had no links with Routh.
MOCKING BIDEN
On X in 2020, Routh expressed support for Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and mocked Biden as "sleepy Joe."
Earlier this year, Routh tagged Biden in a post on X: "@POTUS Your campaign should be called something like KADAF. Keep America democratic and free. Trumps should be MASA ...make Americans slaves again master. DEMOCRACY is on the ballot and we cannot lose."
North Carolina voting records showed no party affiliation for Routh, though he did vote in this year's Democratic Party primary.
A former neighbor of Routh in Greensboro, North Carolina, Kim Mungo, said he was known to occasionally shoot weapons outside his home on holidays, though not in a threatening manner.
She occasionally cooked in his home and said, "He was cool to me."
Mungo, 53, who said she lived next to Routh for about a decade, said he had moved away several years ago. But he reappeared in May and was cleaning out the house, apparently intending to sell it.
"I ain't seen him in a while," Mungo said. "I don't know what his mindset was."