Yeesh. The Rouths certainly have their troubles these days. 

After Ryan Routh got arrested in the aftermath of an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, a couple of media outlets caught up with his estranged son Oran. Routh fils claimed not to know his father was in Florida at all, nor that his father owned any firearms, despite Ryan's record of felony firearms convictions. It turns out that Oran might have had other things on his mind as the feds began to pore over every aspect of his father's life.

That shoe dropped earlier today:

The son of Ryan Routh, the man arrested in connection with the second apparent assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump, has been taken into custody on federal charges of possessing child pornography.

Investigators say they discovered "hundreds" of files with child pornography during a search of Oran Routh's residence in Guilford County, North Carolina, on Saturday conducted "in connection with an investigation unrelated to child exploitation."

ABC News explains that the FBI had investigated Oran for a connection to Ryan's effort to assassinate Trump:

The "unrelated investigation" referred to Routh's father -- who remains in custody after a judge ordered him detained pending trial Monday -- a spokesperson with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Carolina confirmed to ABC News.

NBC News also reported on this strange new twist in an already-strange case. According to their contacts, the connection to the assassination investigation is less certain. However, they offer similar details on the complaint:

According to a criminal complaint, the FBI searched Oran Routh's home in North Carolina on Saturday. A review of an SD card in a Samsung phone found in his bedroom allegedly uncovered "hundreds" of files containing child sex abuse images.

Files included videos from a "known" series that includes videos of an adult man with a "prepubescent" girl under the age of 10, the complaint said.

A second Samsung phone was found in Oran Routh's possession, according to the complaint, and included a downloaded folder with additional video files. Investigators reported that they observed one video of an adult woman with a girl between the age of 6 and 8 years old.

The complaint also said investigators found a messaging app on the phone that is "commonly used by individuals who distribute and receive child pornography." The person who sent messages from the phone asked for a preview of digital content being sold, according to the complaint.

That might have interested the FBI even before they found the child porn in Oran's devices. That kind of covert messaging app could have been used if the Rouths were part of a conspiracy to assassinate Trump, either with other domestic actors or malevolent foreign agencies. It's possible that the FBI stumbled into Oran's criminal predilections by surprise in such a scenario -- or perhaps had suspicion of this activity and used it as a pretext to investigate Oran for complicity in his father's operation.

This raises other questions. Was Ryan Routh also participating in his son's trafficking in illicit sexual material? Does this relate to Routh's travels to Ukraine and elsewhere? It's not as if Ryan Routh lived a pristine and uneventful life, after all. However, if the FBI had found such material on Routh's phones and devices, one would have expected the US Attorney to charge that immediately, especially to keep a judge from offering bail. 

Speaking of which, a federal judge denied Ryan's application for bail yesterday, to no one's surprise. Prosecutors expect to file more charges, local news reported from the hearing:

Oran had better get used to detention, too. Judges aren't usually inclined to let child-porn traffickers to get out on any easy bond. One thing to watch now is whether Oran will flip on his father -- or whether he has anything to offer at all -- in order to get a deal with the feds. These charges carry a potential life sentence alone if convicted, and even first-timers on simple possession face 5-20 years. 

We'll update as developments warrant.