Deputies assigned to former President Donald Trump’s rally in California’s Coachella Valley arrested a Las Vegas man at a checkpoint Saturday for allegedly carrying a loaded firearm, a shotgun and a high-capacity magazine.
The suspect, identified by officers as 49-year-old Vem Miller of Las Vegas, Nevada, was stopped in a black SUV at the intersection of Avenue 52 and Celebration Drive in Coachella before Trump arrived at the location for his rally, the Sheriff’s Office said of Riverside County.
At a press conference on Sunday, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, whose department helped with security measures for the event, said Miller’s car had an “obviously counterfeit license plate,” prompting the department to investigate further.
In a news release Sunday, the department said the suspect was “illegally in possession of a shotgun, a loaded handgun and a high-capacity magazine.” Bianco said Miller’s vehicle was unregistered and multiple passports and driver’s licenses with different names were found inside.
(credit: FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)
Bianco said Miller was taken into custody without incident on the inside of a much larger perimeter surrounding the rally site where deputies were patrolling Saturday.
“The way it worked yesterday was that only people inside the perimeter, the outer perimeter, were allowed to come in a vehicle if you lived there or if you had documentation showing that you were going to this meeting,” Bianco said.
He said Miller “gave every indication that he belonged there” as he approached the outer edge of the event so he was allowed to continue. Officers then saw the “homemade” license plate, Bianco said, and noticed the inside of the vehicle was “in disarray.”
“The license plate was what we in law enforcement would recognize as homemade and indicative of a group of individuals claiming to be sovereign citizens,” Bianco said.
Following the arrest, he was booked into the John J. Benoit Detention Center on charges of possession of a loaded firearm and possession of a high-capacity magazine.
While the Riverside County sheriff said he believes an assassination attempt was thwarted, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement that former President Trump was not in any danger and a federal official told CBS News there was no evidence of a related assassination attempt. with this incident. . The suspect was charged with two counts of weapons offenses and released. No federal charges have been filed at this time and the investigation is ongoing, according to a joint statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service.
Bianco said his department is actively working with the Secret Service and the FBI to continue the investigation.
“The US Secret Service assesses that the incident had no impact on protective operations and that former President Trump was not in any danger. While no federal arrest has been made at this time, the investigation is ongoing,” a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. .
The investigation remains ongoing and anyone with additional information is urged to contact Deputy Coronado of the Palm Desert Sheriff’s Station at (760) 836–1600.
Saturday’s incident follows two assassination attempts about Trump in the past three months. In July a gunman opened fire at Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, wounding Trump when a bullet grazed his ear and killed a rallygoer. Secret Service snipers shot the gunman dead. And earlier this month, the Secret Service arrested a man with an AK-47-style weapon at Trump’s Florida golf course, 300 to 500 yards away from the former president. The man, Ryan Wesley Routhhas been accused of attempted murder of a political figure in addition to the gun allegations.
