Judge suspends charges for gunman arrested at Trump’s California golf course
A California judge on Wednesday suspended criminal proceedings against the man accused of prowling around Trump National Golf Club near Los Angeles with weapons just days before President Donald Trump was set to speak at the location.
Jeanine John Taele, a decorated Marine veteran, was arrested on Aug. 2 after local authorities said they observed him walking throughout the golf course grounds, taking photographs and videos and appearing to monitor security-planning activities. Prosecutors said Taele created a dossier detailing first lady Melania Trump’s daily schedule, in addition to hundreds of pages on Secret Service agents and sketches of the course. He was slapped with federal and state charges, with the Trump administration saying the arrest “prevented what could have been a dangerous situation from occurring.”
This week, Los Angeles County Judge John Lonergan Jr. suspended the criminal proceedings, sending Taele’s case to a mental health court after the plaintiff’s attorney said his client was not able to understand or participate in his defense. Lonergan transferred proceedings to Hollywood Mental Health Court based on statements Taele made in a pretrial evaluation that the judge said indicated he wasn’t mentally fit to stand trial.
Taele will remain in jail until a Sept. 9 hearing at the mental health court. He appeared before Lonergan on Wednesday in a suicide prevention gown.
Deputies with the Lomita Sheriff’s Station said they found Taele with a 16-round magazine containing hollow point ammunition in his pants pocket. He had a loaded pistol and an additional loaded magazine containing hollow point ammunition in his vehicle at the time of his arrest, according to authorities. In addition, he had multiple notebooks containing “concerning statements,” deputies said.
At the time of his latest arrest, Taele was being investigated for robbery by another police department.
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During his Aug. 4 arraignment in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Taele pleaded not guilty to all four state charges. He was charged with felony possession of a short-barreled rifle or shotgun, a felony large-capacity-magazine offense, felony second-degree robbery, and misdemeanor carrying a concealed firearm in a vehicle.
Taele is facing separate federal felony charges for possessing an unregistered short-barreled rifle, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
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