A Charles County man who was elected last month as a delegate for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has been indicted on child pornography and explosives charges, federal prosecutors said Thursday.
Caleb Andrew Bailey, 30, faces up to 50 years in prison on four charges.
Authorities said they began looking into the Waldorf man when a package of ammunition and explosives he shipped to Wisconsin ruptured en route and was reported to authorities by postal inspectors.
Joe Cluster, executive director of the Maryland Republican Party, confirmed Bailey was a delegate for Trump in the state's April 26 primary. He received 23,905 votes in the state's 5th Congressional District.
"We strongly condemn these allegations and leave it in the capable hands of law enforcement," Trump spokesman Hope Hicks said in a statement. "He will be replaced immediately."
According to the indictment handed down late Wednesday, mail inspectors intercepted the package at a postal facility in Capitol Heights. Bailey called the Postal Service to ask why the package had not been delivered, prosecutors said.
The package included 119 rounds of reloaded .50 caliber cartridges with M48A1 incendiary projectiles, and 200 rounds of 14.5mm M183A1 spotting projectiles which contain an explosive charge, prosecutors said. Neither Bailey nor the intended recipient has a federal explosives license needed to transport the material contained in the package, prosectors said.
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Police searched several properties associated with Bailey, including his home, and seized an illegal machine gun, prosecutors said.
They also say Bailey "used a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct" to produce child pornography. He was charged with possessing child pornography.
Bailey faces a maximum prison sentence of 10 years for unlawful transport of explosives and for illegal possession of a machine gun, a maximum of 30 years for production and attempted production of child pornography and a maximum of 10 years for possessing child pornography, prosecutors said.
Bailey is in federal custody pending a hearing on Tuesday.
If he is unable to attend the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July, an alternate delegate would vote to support Trump's nomination in his place.
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