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A California man who was arrested at Donald Trump’s Los Angeles-area golf course while pretending to be part of the security detail preparing for the US president’s visit has been charged with several felonies, including the possession of a large-capacity magazine as well as a stash of illegal weapons found in his car and home.
Jeanine John Taele, 38, was arrested on Sunday at Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes, two days before the president was set to visit the town for a Republican National Committee dinner.
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Taele pleaded not guilty to all the charges on Monday, with bail set at $250,000, though he had already appeared in court on a state weapons and second-degree robbery charge for an unrelated, earlier incident.
He was due in court on Wednesday on a federal weapons charge, but the hearing was cancelled. According to a spokesperson from the US attorney’s office, Taele is being held at a downtown LA jail and is not yet in federal custody.
Taele was first seen on the president’s property on Friday, walking throughout the course wearing an earpiece and taking photos and videos of federal agents’ activities as they conducted a security assessment, according to a federal criminal complaint filed with the California Central District Court.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said a search of his pick-up truck in the club car park turned up a loaded 9mm pistol, binoculars, and a badge that read “security protection agent”, according to federal prosecutors.
On Monday, law enforcement searched his home in the nearby city of Downey and found an unregistered short-barreled rifle and other firearms, magazines, ammunition, body armour, and notebooks with “concerning statements”, federal authorities said. No details about the statements were released.
The 38-year-old was a corporal in the US Marines. He was deployed to Iraq in 2008 and Afghanistan in 2010, and worked as a warehouse clerk, according to the US Marine Corps. He earned numerous commendations, including an award for good conduct during his service from 2008 to 2016.
In brief remarks about Taele’s arrest to Fox News on Tuesday, Trump said that “only consequential presidents” are targeted and that he was “definitely consequential”, which brought him “a little solace”.
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