The would-be Trump assassin sent a furious email to the man he scammed out of $3,600 in a failed construction deal last year. In the email, he boasted of spending time in Taiwan and Ukraine and complained about dealing with “ungrateful, selfish, rich people.”
Ryan Routh, 58, is currently in a Florida prison awaiting trial on charges of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with a defaced serial number.
He was arrested by agents in Florida on Sunday after fleeing Trump International Golf Club in Palm Beach. A Secret Service agent protecting the former president saw the barrel of his AK-47 rifle sticking through a hole in the fence and opened fire.
DailyMail.com can now reveal that Routh has had several run-ins with police in his new home of Ka’a’awa, Hawaii, and that neighbours near his modest wooden house have not seen him for a month.
On Tuesday, his home was searched by the FBI, who said the raid was the result of a sealed arrest warrant issued in Florida.
Ryan Routh, 58, is facing weapons charges after he carried an AK-47-style rifle near the border of Donald Trump’s golf course in Florida
His Hawaii home (pictured) was searched Tuesday by the FBI, which said the raid was the result of a sealed arrest warrant issued in Florida
He also developed a reputation as a tough guy to deal with clients of his construction company, Camp Box Honolulu — including 40-year-old vanilla farmer Saili Levi, who hired him last year to convert a trailer into a mobile farm store.
Levi says he paid him a $3,600 deposit for the work, but was repeatedly fobbed off by Routh, who eventually cut off contact — but not before sending him an email containing unsubstantiated boasts about his efforts to get soldiers into Ukraine and Taiwan.
In the email, obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com, Routh begins by defending the work he has done, then moves into a tirade about Taiwan, telling Levi, “You disappoint me as a human being.”
He continued: ‘Last year I spent 5 months in Ukraine, this year 3 months, and this year 2 weeks in Washington DC and 2 weeks in Taiwan, volunteering and trying to provide thousands of Afghan soldiers to win the war. I spent thousands of dollars supporting freedom, human rights and democracy around the world, and now I come back to this kind of nonsense.
‘I haven’t even been home for a month and this is the human scale I’m dealing with: ungrateful, selfish, rich people. It astounds me.
Neighbors near his modest wooden house said they haven’t seen Routh for about a month
Clients of his construction services company Camp Box Honolulu said working with Routh can be difficult
Routh has a criminal record that includes arrests for everything from theft to hit-and-runs to brandishing a weapon of mass destruction, in his case a machine gun.
‘It is sad that the best people among us sacrifice themselves and die at the front, while those who do not care live a carefree and happy life. Very sad.
‘Maybe I’d be happier if I was dead on the front lines than if I was riding with rich people in expensive cars while I was driving old, broken down cars. [sic] vehicles and hoping that my account doesn’t go negative and hoping that I have something to eat.
“China and Russia will definitely win at this rate. You disappoint me as a human being.”
Levi said he decided to cut off contact after the email and never got his money or his caravan back.
He told DailyMail.com: ‘I initially paid him to build a store for my business, but instead of fixing the problem or giving me my money, he decided to do nothing of the sort and just sent me a nasty email.
“I decided, you know what? It’s not worth it. I’m just going to let it go. He took the trailer; he took my money.
“Told me I was a horrible person. All I did after that was leave a review on his Facebook page for his business, just to make sure no one else would end up in the same situation as me. Then I left it at that.”
He moved from North Carolina to Ka’a’awa with his fiancée in 2018 and neighbors said they were unaware of his criminal past
A white pickup truck in Routh’s driveway has a Biden-Harris campaign bumper sticker on it
Routh has been placed on a “driver’s license hold” — a Hawaii-only law that allows authorities to prevent him from getting or renewing his driver’s license until he pays the fines
Despite Routh’s behaviour, Levi said he had no idea the 58-year-old would go as far as he did, telling DailyMail.com: ‘There are a few of us who knew him from this project [the trailer conversion] and we were all shocked.
“I mean, we knew he was a little crazy, but I didn’t know it was this crazy. Everyone’s a little crazy to some extent and at the same time, he’s got to have his day in court, but all the accusations against him… it doesn’t look good.”
Most of the neighbors DailyMail.com spoke to in the idyllic Oahu town where he lived had no idea of his criminal past, which includes more than 100 charges filed in his home state of North Carolina.
His life of petty crime included arrests for everything from theft to hit-and-runs to brandishing a weapon of mass destruction, in his case a machine gun – though he never served time in prison.
After moving to Ka’a’awa with his fiancée Kathleen Shaffer (61) and their daughter Sara (31) and son Adam (27) in 2018, his run-ins with the law continued.
Routh was arrested Sunday after fleeing Trump International Golf Club in Palm Beach
Footage revealed the backpack, GoPro camera and AK-47-style rifle left behind by the shooter
The suspect was able to get within 300 to 500 yards of Trump and was stationed outside the club around the 5th and 6th holes
Court records show he has been arrested four times, all for traffic violations ranging from driving without a license to failing to pay motor vehicle taxes and lacking safety documents for his battered white Ford F150 truck.
As a result, he was hit with fines totaling $280, which he has yet to pay. As a result, he has been pursued by a court-appointed debt collection agency since April 2023, when a default judgment was entered against him.
He has also been placed on a “driver’s license hold,” a law unique to Hawaii that allows authorities to prevent him from obtaining or renewing his driver’s license until he pays up.
Neighbor Ethan Dinnan, 34, told DailyMail.com he and other neighbors were left shocked by the police and media raiding their quiet street.
He said: ‘I haven’t seen him for at least a month and I haven’t seen his fiancée either. It’s been crazy since this happened – people coming and going all the time. It’s usually so quiet.’