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Ryan Routh, the 58-year-old man accused of trying to assassinate former President Donald Trump on Sunday (September 15), has a lengthy criminal record dating back to the 1980s and includes an arrest for having a weapon of mass destruction.
"Routh's attitude was that he was above everybody. He could do what he wanted," Eric Rasecke, a retired Greensboro Police Department officer and Air Force veteran, told Fox News. "It didn't matter. He was pretty entitled."
Routh racked up traffic violations and committed other minor crimes, but over the years, the crimes got more severe, with arrests for possession of a stolen vehicle and possession of stolen goods. However, in many cases, Routh's lawyers were able to get the charges dropped when the cases made their way to court.
In December 2002, Routh barricaded himself inside his business after being pulled over with a rifle in his car. After three hours, he surrendered without further incident and was charged with resisting, delaying, and obstructing a law enforcement officer, driving while his license was revoked, carrying a concealed weapon, and possession of a weapon of mass destruction, which, according to the New York Times, was a "binary explosive with a 10-inch detonation and a blasting cap."
Routh was convicted and sentenced to supervised probation for 60 months.