The accused gunman arrested last week in what the FBI is investigating as an apparent attempt on Donald Trump’s life left a note months earlier with an acquaintance discussing a failed attempt to kill the former president, according to a new court filing.

The Monday filing came just hours before the suspect, 58-year-old Ryan Routh, was expected back in court in West Palm Beach, where prosecutors are expected to argue to keep him in jail until his trial.

In the filing, investigators said that cell phone records indicated that Routh had traveled to South Florida from North Carolina more than a month before he was spotted with an assault-style rifle at the former president’s West Palm Beach golf course. They said Routh had been in West Palm Beach since Aug. 14, and that cell towers had located his phone near Trump International Golf Club and the former president’s residence at Mar-a-Lago on various occasions.

Routh was arrested on Sept. 15 after Secret Service personnel spotted the muzzle of a rifle sticking out of the tree line surrounding the golf course, where Trump was playing a round of golf. He fled the scene before he was taken into custody by police in neighboring Martin County, authorities say.

Routh was charged last week with possessing a gun with a scratched out serial number and with possessing a firearm illegally as a felon. Both charges levied against Routh — who has a prior criminal history from an incident more than 20 years ago in North Carolina in which he barricaded himself inside a building while wielding a gun — are felonies, carrying a combined maximum fine of $500,000 and up to 20 years in prison.

He has not yet been charged in relation to the apparent assassination attempt on Trump, though he is likely to eventually face charges of making threats against a former president, or against a candidate for president, who is protected by the Secret Service.

Handwritten letters

In Monday’s court filing, investigators revealed that three days after Routh’s arrest, an unnamed witness told law enforcement that Routh had dropped off a box at his home several months before the apparent assassination attempt. The box, which the witness opened after learning of Routh’s arrest, contained a smattering of items, including ammunition, building materials, four cell phones and handwritten letters.

One of those letters, which was addressed to “The World,” outlined Routh’s plans, stating, “This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I failed you. I tried my best and gave it all the gumption I could muster.” In the letter, Routh offered a $150,000 reward “to whomever can complete the job.”

Among the grievances outlined in the letter is that Trump “ended relations with Iran” and that, consequently, “the Middle East has unraveled.”

Searched for route between Palm Beach and Mexico

Routh has a criminal history dating back more than two decades. He was convicted in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 2002 for possessing an explosive device. He was convicted again in North Carolina in 2010 on multiple counts of possessing stolen goods, according to authorities.

Originally from North Carolina, Routh most recently lived in Hawaii. In Monday’s filing, authorities said they found a Hawaii driver’s license in Routh’s name in his car, along with six cell phones. One of those phones contained a Google search of how to travel from Palm Beach County to Mexico.

Investigators also said that law enforcement found handwritten notes, including one containing a list of dates and locations where Trump had been or was scheduled to appear. A notebook recovered from the vehicle was filled with “names and phone numbers pertaining to Ukraine, discussions about how to join combat on behalf of Ukraine, and notes criticizing the governments of China and Russia.”

The vehicle that Routh had fled in — a black Nissan Xterra — also bore a license plate that was not registered to the car, according to the court filing.

Routh has been held in custody since his arrest last week after an initial hearing before Magistrate Judge Ryon McCabe.

Routh was assigned a federal public defender last Monday after he told the judge that, while he has a job earning $3,000 a month, he has no money in the bank and owns no real estate. Speaking calmly and politely, he said he supports one adult son. He chatted before and during his hearing with a court-appointed defense attorney, Kristy Militello.

“From what I’m hearing, you have little to no assets,” the judge said to Routh.

More details

An affidavit filed in support of the criminal charges and unsealed following Routh’s hearing suggests that investigators believe he had been waiting at the golf course overnight for nearly 12 hours when he was first spotted by a Secret Service agent surveilling the course ahead of Trump as the former president played a round of golf.

The document states that Routh’s cell phone signal confirmed that he arrived at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach just before 2 a.m. Sunday and remained there until he was spotted at 1:31 p.m. The document states that law enforcement found a plastic bag filled with food, a GoPro camera and a loaded SKS-style rifle in the treeline where the gunman had been spotted by the Secret Service.

The special agent who signed the affidavit, Mark A. Thomas, noted that such weapons aren’t sold in Florida, meaning it was likely brought into the state from elsewhere, rather than purchased locally.

The document also states that when Routh was stopped by sheriff’s deputies on the highway at 2:14 p.m., he said he knew why he was being pulled over. The license tag on the Nissan SUV he was driving was lifted from a Ford truck that had been reported stolen, Thomas wrote.

Adam McMichael wants to keep Routh in jail, citing the potential that he might flee and noting that he is a danger because he’s accused of carrying a weapon illegally as a felon.

Last Monday, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District Markenzy Lapointe and other local and federal authorities said at an afternoon news conference at the Palm Beach Sheriff’s office that the investigation is in its “early stages,” with a focus on “an apparent assassination attempt on former President Trump.”

The FBI has executed search warrants to gather evidence on Routh, including video recordings, cell phones, other electronic devices and vehicles, along with interviewing seven civilian witnesses who were at or near the West Palm Beach golf course and Routh’s family members in North Carolina and Hawaii. Agents are also analyzing Routh’s social media posts and his reported efforts to recruit Afghanis to fight in Ukraine against Russia.

Asked if Routh acted alone or with others, Miami FBI Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey Veltri said: “We’re still exploring that” but so far “we don’t have information that he acted with anyone else.”

Asked about the Secret Service’s protection of former President Trump on Sunday, Acting Special Agent in Charge Ronald L. Rowe Jr. said the president’s golf game was not on his schedule. But he stressed that since the first assassination attempt on Trump in Pennsylvania in July, the FBI has heightened its security for Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris to top levels.

“Those things were in place yesterday,” Rowe said.

In a new disclosure, Rowe said that when a Secret Service agent fired shots at a rifle barrel sticking through the shrubs at the golf course on Sunday, the suspect did not shoot back.

“The subject [Routh] did not fire or get off any shots at our agent,” Rowe said.

©2024 Miami Herald. Visit at miamiherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.