An Iranian national armed with a pair of knives, a machete, and a pickax was detained Friday by police about four miles from President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Officers responded to a call at around 9:30 a.m. about a suspicious person in Bradley Park, which is northeast of the Flagler Memorial Bridge, said Michael Ogrodnick, Palm Beach Police Department public information officer.
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Police arrested a man named Masoud Yarieilzoleh on a charge related to a concealed weapons violation, Ogrodnick told the Washington Examiner. Police also found $22,000 and a passport showing the man is an Iranian national in the United States legally.
Palm Beach police are conducting an investigation, with the help of federal partners, that includes an examination of a car parked at Palm Beach International Airport. Yarieilzoleh, who was released from custody the same day as the incident, has been given a notice to appear at the Palm Beach County Criminal Justice Complex on Jan. 29.
A Palm Beach Daily News photographer saw Yarieilzoleh, with camping gear, being arrested by three Palm Beach police officers and two plainclothes officers who were said to be from another department. The Palm Beach Post published photos of the arrest, showing Yarieilzoleh wearing a brown vest over a blue shirt and cargo pants.
The arrest Friday comes days after Iran launched a barrage of ballistic missiles at bases in Iraq housing U.S. troops in response to the American airstrike that killed Qassem Soleimani, the head of the Iranian Quds Force, outside Baghdad International Airport.
Flagler Memorial Bridge is located about four miles north of the Mar-a-Lago private club, where Trump often spends his weekends during the winter.
The president was at the White House on Friday.
There have been other recent incidents in and around Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property, which he dubbed the “Winter White House.”
Local police were called to the resort Monday night to assist Secret Service with an unspecified incident. Trump and his family departed on Sunday to return to Washington, D.C., after spending the holidays in Palm Beach.
Shortly before Trump left Palm Beach International Airport for the White House, a Florida man who was dishonorably discharged from the Marines for sex offenses was arrested after breaching Trump’s airport security by allegedly impersonating a federal law enforcement officer.
In the last year, two Chinese nationals have breached security and entered the club’s grounds.
Last month, Jing Lu, 56, was told to leave after trying to enter Mar-a-Lago via the main gate. She then entered the property through a service driveway and was seen on security footage taking photos, according to police documents.
In November, Yujing Zhang, 33, was sentenced to time served for trespassing and lying to federal agents about why she was at the resort in March. A receptionist who was suspicious of Zhang alerted Secret Service of the Chinese businesswoman, who had originally said she was there to swim. Zhang is currently in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement as she awaits deportation.
Caitlin Yilek contributed to this report.
