Presumptive Republican White House nominee Donald Trump’s campaign is reportedly moving quickly to replace a delegate indicted on charges of child pornography and illegal possession of explosive and a machine gun.
After reports emerged Thursday that 30-year-old Caleb Andrew Baily, who represents Trump in Maryland’s 5th District, was indicted the day before, a Trump spokeswoman released a statement denouncing the alleged crimes:
The charges come days after Trump faced scrutiny for allowing a white nationalist to serve as one of his California delegates. A campaign spokesman wrote off that delegate’s inclusion as a “database error.”
{mosads}Rod J. Rosenstein, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, confirmed that Bailey is facing four counts after being indicted by a grand jury on Wednesday.
He alleges that Bailey produced child pornography between March 2015 and January. Rosenstein said that charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years and a maximum of 30 years in prison.
The charges also include unlawful transport of explosives by a non-licensee and illegal possession of a machine gun.
Court documents on Thursday said that postal police and postal inspectors responded on Feb. 18 to a suspicious package that had ruptured open in Capital Heights, Md.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) was then notified and discovered 119 rounds of reloaded .50 caliber cartridges with M48A1 incendiary projectiles. Inspectors also found 200 rounds of 14.5mm M183A1 sporting projectiles containing an explosive charge in the package.
Court documents indicate that on March 3, the Postal Service received a call from a man identifying himself as Bailey. The man provided a tracking number matching the one on the package obtained by the ATF, they added. The parcel was addressed to an individual in Wisconsin.
Law enforcement officials then arranged a meeting with Bailey at the postal facility scheduled for May 5, where he would explain the contents of his package.
Bailey never appeared, court documents said, so authorities executed a search warrant on his properties the same day and allegedly recovered an illegal machine gun.
The Maryland Board of Elections lists Bailey as a delegate for Trump representing the state’s 5th District.
Trump won Maryland’s GOP presidential primary in late April on his way to becoming the party’s presumptive presidential nominee.