Trump Delegate Indicted on Child Porn, Explosives Charges

GREENBELT, MD — A Maryland man indicted on federal child pornography and illegal explosives charges is a Donald Trump delegate to the Republican National Convention, a spot approved by the GOP candidate’s presidential campaign, a report says.

Caleb Andrew Bailey, 30, of Waldorf, MD, was indicted Wednesday for illegal transport of explosives, illegal possession of a machine gun, along with child pornography offenses, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Maryland.

A spokesperson for the Maryland Republican Party told Mother Jones magazine that Bailey is a delegate for Trump in Maryland's 5th Congressional district. Convention delegates in Maryland are approved by the campaigns that they represent. The Trump campaign has not commented on Bailey's indictment.

His father, Collins A. Bailey, is the former first vice chairman of the Maryland Republican Party, and is also a Trump delegate, reports say.

The four-count indictment and court documents say police and postal inspectors found ammunition and explosives in a package that had ruptured open Feb. 18 at a Capital Heights postal facility. 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, federal ATF agents said.

According to court documents, on Feb. 25 and March 3, the U.S. Postal Service customer service received calls from a person who identified himself by a false name in the first call, and then identified himself as Caleb Bailey in the second call. The caller gave the tracking number for the package recovered by ATF, and said the package had not yet been delivered.

Neither Bailey nor the Wisconsin firearms store to which the package was addressed had a federal explosives license to transport the explosives contained in the package, prosecutors say. An affidavit in the case doesn’t name the Wisconsin store or give a specific location.

According to court documents, officers arranged to meet with Bailey at a postal facility on May 5, reportedly to have Bailey give information about the missing package. But, Bailey did not appear at the meeting site.

Law enforcement officer on May 5 executed federal search warrants at adjoining properties associated with Bailey, including his home, and seized a machine gun.

There is no mention in court records of how investigators connected Bailey to child pornography, but a U.S. Attorney's Office spokeswoman referred Patch to an affidavit that says on May 5 agents executed search warrants at Bailey's home and properties nearby.

From March 2015 to January 2016, Bailey used a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct to produce child pornography, prosecutors charge, authorities claim. The indictment also says that Bailey possessed child pornography.

Bailey faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for unlawful transport of explosives by a non-licensee and for illegal possession of a machine gun; a mandatory minimum of 15 years and a maximum of 30 years in prison for production and attempted production of child pornography; and a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for possessing child pornography. A criminal complaint was filed on May 6 charging Bailey with unlawful transport of explosives.

Bailey is in custody pending a May 24 detention hearing in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, MD, at which time his initial appearance is also scheduled.

»Photo of suspect Caleb Bailey released by U.S. Attorney's Office