LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California man who was arrested at President Donald Trump’s Los Angeles-area golf course was pretending to be part of the security detail preparing for Trump’s visit and had a stash of illegal weapons in his car and home, authorities said.
Jeanine John Taele, 38, was due in court Wednesday on a federal weapons charge but the hearing was cancelled. He is being held at a downtown LA jail on state charges, according to booking records and not yet in federal custody, said a spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office.
Taele was arrested Sunday at Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes, two days before Trump visited for a fundraising dinner.
Taele was first seen on the property 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.
Taele drove away but then returned to the course Sunday. He approached federal agents and said he was employed by the State Department and was there for a security detail. Taele said he had a loaded weapon in his vehicle and was arrested after it was searched, according to federal officials. Authorities also found a 16-round magazine with ammunition in his pocket.
He already appeared in court on state weapons charges and a second-degree robbery charge for an unrelated incident.
Taele is charged federally with possession of an unregistered short-barreled rifle that was found at this home, authorities said. The complaint alleges the firearm is an illegally modified AR-style rifle with a barrel that was cut down to 10 inches (25 centimeters) from 14 inches (35 centimeters).
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said a search of his pickup truck in the club parking lot turned up a loaded 9mm pistol, binoculars and a badge that read “security protection agent,” according to federal prosecutors.
Law enforcement searched his home in the nearby city of Downey on Monday and found a rifle and other firearms, magazines and ammunition, body armor and notebooks with “concerning statements,” federal authorities said. No details about the statements were released.
“Mr. Taele’s troubling behavior at the President’s public golf course merely days before the President was expected to arrive raised serious red flags for law enforcement,” Patrick Grandy, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles office, said in a statement. “There is no room for error, particularly in light of previous attempts on President Trump’s life.”
In brief remarks about Taele’s arrest to Fox News on Tuesday, Trump said “only consequential presidents” are targeted, “and I am definitely consequential,” which he said brought him “a little solace.”
Taele was a corporal in the U.S. Marines who was deployed to Iraq in 2008 and Afghanistan in 2010 and worked as a warehouse clerk, according to the U.S. Marine Corps. He earned numerous commendations, including an award for good conduct, during his service from 2008 to 2016.
The Los Angeles County public defender’s office, which is representing Taele in the state criminal case, did not immediately return an email seeking comment Wednesday. Family members could not immediately be reached for comment.
Last year a jury found a man guilty of trying to assassinate Trump at the president’s Florida country club. And while a candidate in 2024, Trump narrowly escaped an assassination attempt by a shooter on a roof at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.