A woman who police said went to President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach and told U.S. Secret Service agents that she had “an urgent message” for the president has been arrested on vehicle-related charges.
Caroline Shaw, 49, of Orlando was taken into custody July 7 on charges of driving with a suspended license and failure to register a vehicle, according to court records.
Trump was in Washington, D.C., when Shaw reportedly drove her gray Mercedes van to the south gate of Mar-a-Lago just before 10 p.m. July 7.
Secret Service agents told Palm Beach Police who responded to the scene that Shaw parked her van on Southern Boulevard and walked to the estate’s south gate, where she said she wanted to speak with Trump to deliver an urgent message, according to an arrest report.
Shaw told agents there were firearms in her van, and the arrest report said a handgun was seized during Shaw’s arrest.
Shaw’s Florida driver’s license was suspended April 23, 2023, for unpaid traffic tickets, and her vehicle’s registration expired in December of 2021, the arrest report said.
Shaw remained at the Palm Beach County Jail on July 8 on a $2,000 bond, jail records show. She pleaded not guilty in her first appearance July 8 before Palm Beach County Judge Donald Hafele, who ordered Shaw to have no contact with Trump, Mar-a-Lago, the area around Mar-a-Lago or any of Trump’s properties, according to court records.
Shaw requested to be represented by the Palm Beach County Public Defender’s office, which as a policy does not comment on open cases.
In addition to the misdemeanor charges she faces, Palm Beach Police also filed a petition for a risk protection order to prevent Shaw from having access to weapons or ammunition for at least a year, court records show. The details of that petition were not immediately available.
Florida law enforcement agencies typically ask courts for risk protection orders when they believe a person may pose a threat to themselves or others. The orders are part of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act, or “red flag law,” that was enacted in 2018 in the wake of the mass shooting at that high school that same year where a 19-year-old gunman killed 17 people and injured 18 others.
Recent arrests near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago
Shaw is the latest person to be arrested in the Secret Service’s security zone around Mar-a-Lago, put in place following the July 13 attempted assassination of Trump during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
The first person arrested after the July 13 assassination attempt was Zijie Li, 39, a Chinese national who traveled from California to Palm Beach to make multiple attempts to get into Mar-a-Lago to speak with Trump. He was arrested July 31 and charged with trespassing. Li was arrested again Nov. 7 after he went back to Mar-a-Lago just hours after being released from a 72-hour mental health hold. On Nov. 21, Li was declared incompetent following a psychologist’s report, according to court records.
Patrick Webster Warren, 42, of South Carolina was arrested Aug. 13 after police said he walked around concrete barricades next to Mar-a-Lago and reportedly told officers that he wanted to get Trump’s autograph and have him sign a T-shirt.
Warren pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor trespassing charges and was released on a $3,000 bond, which he forfeited when he failed to attend a pair of hearings in Palm Beach County court, records show. Judge Ashley Zuckerman on Dec. 6 issued a warrant for Warren’s arrest.
On Nov. 14, 53-year-old Farbod Dolat of Sarasota was arrested by Palm Beach Police, who said Dolat drove across the Sunshine State in a stolen car to try to speak to Trump at Mar-a-Lago. Dolat pleaded not guilty to felony charges of grand theft of a motor vehicle and driving without a valid driver’s license.
On Dec. 5, Palm Beach Police arrested 62-year-old Ruby Rodriguez of California on a trespassing charge at Mar-a-Lago. She had first tried to get into the club the previous day and said she wanted to meet with Trump, an arrest report said. She filed a guilty plea in December, and Palm Beach County Judge Frank Castor withheld adjudication, meaning there will not be a conviction on Rodriguez’s record.
Castor sentenced Rodriguez to a year of probation and 19 days of jail time, with credit for the 19 days she served, court records show. Rodriguez was also ordered to pay $373 in court fees, which were paid Dec. 20, according to county records.
Also Dec. 5, Palm Beach Police arrested a teenager who they said walked down the beach from near Midtown toward Mar-a-Lago with a plan to paint the message “Carthage Vs. Rome” on the wall of Mar-a-Lago.
On Jan. 22, 32-year-old Bijan Arceo of Sunny Isles Beach was arrested by Palm Beach Police after he jumped over the security wall along Mar-a-Lago’s east side. Arceo was ordered to complete a pre-trial diversion program that included 25 hours of community service, records show, and stipulations that he could not have contact with Mar-a-Lago for 90 days or have any new arrests during that time.
On Feb. 13, Jeffrey Daniel Olson was arrested by the U.S. Secret Service after investigators said he jumped over a wall onto the lawn at Mar-a-Lago. Olson was charged with knowingly entering a restricted building. He faces up to one year in federal prison, five years of probation and a fine of $100,000.
Adrienne Tajirian, 58, of Pennsylvania was arrested April 12 after police said she tried to get into Mar-a-Lago to have dinner with Donald Trump Jr. She pleaded guilty in May and was sentenced to serve six months of probation, according to court records.
Most recently, Anthony Thomas Reyes, 23, of Texas was arrested in the early morning of June 3 at Mar-a-Lago after Palm Beach Police said Reyes jumped the estate’s wall and told officers that he wanted to “spread the gospel” to Trump and marry his granddaughter, Kai Madison Trump.
Reyes faces a misdemeanor trespassing charge, court records show. He was released from the Palm Beach County Jail on June 4 after pleading not guilty and posting a $50,000 bond, according to jail records.
This story will be updated.
Kristina Webb is a reporter for Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at kwebb@pbdailynews.com. Subscribe today to support our journalism.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Police: Woman arrested at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach said she had ‘urgent message’ for Trump
Reporting by Kristina Webb, Palm Beach Daily News / Palm Beach Daily News
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