A Chinese woman found guilty of resisting police after fleeing from President Trump’s resort was sentenced to six months in prison on Friday.
Jing Lu, 56, told a Florida judge she made “an honest mistake” when she walked onto Mar-a-Lago in December, the Palm Beach Post reported.
Lu, who has been in custody since her arrest due to an expired visa, should be released by May after receiving credit for time already served.
The Chinese national tried to enter Mar-a-Lago via the main gate but was turned away by security. She then walked to the resort’s service driveway and entered the property. Security cameras recorded her taking photos, according to police documents.
When security approached her, she fled on foot and nonviolently resisted police when they later tried to detain her in a nearby shopping district.
A jury convicted her Wednesday on the resisting police charge but acquitted her of trespassing.
Assistant State Attorney Alexandra Dorman asked the judge to sentence Lu to a year in prison to send a message.
“There’s great concern for this type of [incident] happening on Mar-a-Lago property,” Dorman said.
Lu is the second Chinese national arrested after taking photos at Trump’s Palm Beach resort in the last year. Yujing Zhang, 33, was found guilty in September of trespassing at the club and lying to federal agents about why she was there.
The arrests come at a time when U.S. officials have increasingly warned of Chinese intelligence activities, though neither of the cases has resulted in charges of espionage or acting as an agent of a foreign government.
