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Man drove stolen car to Mar-a-Lago to see Trump

Umito November 16, 2024

(This story has been updated to add new information.)

A Florida man was arrested Thursday evening after Palm Beach police said he stopped at Mar-a-Lago and asked to speak with the president-elect Donald Trump – while driving a stolen car.

This marks at least the third person to arrest at Mar-a-Lago since the summer, and comes as Trump’s club is filled with dignitaries and celebrities helping guide the president-elect during his transition to a second term in the White House.

The 52-year-old Sarasota man faces charges of vehicle theft and operating a motor vehicle without a valid license, according to jail records. He was being held Friday morning at the Palm Beach County Jail on $20,250 bail, according to jail records.

A judge also ordered the man to have no contact with Trump, Mar-a-Lago, the protected area around Mar-a-Lago or any other Trump property, records show. The man cannot have weapons either.

According to a Palm Beach police arrest report, the man drove a Hyundai Kona, a small SUV, into a parking lot near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club around 9:15 p.m. Thursday and asked to speak with the president elected. A Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office detective and a U.S. Secret Service agent took the man aside while waiting for police, according to the report.

When the Palm Beach police officer who arrived at the scene checked the man’s driver’s license, he found that he had been suspended indefinitely, according to the report. After checking the license plate number of the SUV the man was driving, the officer determined that it did not belong to him.

Instead, the gray Hyundai belonged to a rental company, which said a woman had rented the SUV, the report states. When police contacted this woman, she told them she knew the man from Sarasota and that they had met earlier in the day to purchase a vehicle. While the woman went to the bank to get money, the man stayed in the car, she told police.

When he returned, the SUV was no longer there, according to the police report.

The woman returned to the man’s home, thinking he would return, but he did not. Instead, he apparently drove to Mar-a-Lago. The woman told police she did not give the man permission to take her SUV, according to the report.

A Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office deputy contacted the Palm Beach police officer and said the SUV had been reported stolen.

Recent arrests at Mar-a-Lago

Sarasota man is latest to be arrested at Mar-a-Lago in a gunman tried to assassinate Trump during the then Republican candidate’s campaign rally in Pennsylvania on July 13.

After that incident – in which Trump and two of his supporters were injured and another rally attendee was killed – the Secret Service immediately increased security around Trump, his family and his campaign, as well as of all of its properties, including Mar-a-Lago, the agency previously told the Daily News.

This increased security included the closure of South Ocean Boulevard from the Southern Boulevard traffic circle, north of the intersection with South County Road, when Trump is at home.

On July 31, a Chinese citizen living in California was arrested after police said he repeatedly tried to enter Mar-a-Lago to speak to Trump. The man was held in the Palm Beach County Jail until late October, according to police reports. He almost immediately began trying to get to Mar-a-Lago again and was placed on Baker Act hold on Oct. 30 after asking a Palm Beach resident to help him get to Trump’s club, a Palm Beach police said.

On November 7, the same day the man was released from Baker Act prison, he was arrested for trespassing after taking an Uber to the south gate of Mar-a-Lago, police said. He pleaded not guilty.

A South Carolina man who police say is one of Trump’s supporters was arrested Aug. 13 after Palm Beach police said he bypassed Secret Service checkpoints in an attempt to talk with Trump. This man also pleaded not guilty.

Kristina Webb is a reporter for the Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida network. You can reach her at [email protected]. Subscribe today to support our journalism.