Woman Arrested After Driving Through Gate Near Mar-a-Lago, Strange Encounter with Secret Service

A woman was arrested by law enforcement Tuesday night after acting strangely at the Secret Service checkpoint outside President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.

The encounter quickly turned into a police pursuit, with South Ocean Boulevard being shut down for over three hours, according to WPEC-TV.

Police identified the suspect as Alexa Scharf, 29, of Loxahatchee. A probable cause affidavit said she drove her gray Hyundai SUV into a closed checkpoint in the Bath & Tennis Club’s west parking lot without authorization.

Scharf allegedly parked next to the vehicle-screening tents, exited her car, and turned on a hose. When a Secret Service agent asked who she was, she replied, “I’m here for the car wash.”

After agents made multiple attempts to ascertain her identity, Scharf got back in her car,  ignoring orders to stop, and drove toward one of the agents, forcing him to jump out of the way.

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Scharf’s vehicle was discovered shortly thereafter, less than half a mile from Trump’s private club, at another property. The front gate was knocked down, and her car was in the driveway.

Local police and Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputies moved up the driveway and ordered her to get out of the SUV.

Investigators claim Scharf then drove directly toward a Palm Beach Police officer, forcing him to act fast and jump out of the way to avoid getting hit. Scharf also drove at another officer while attempting to leave, causing him to dodge her car.

She then drove down South Ocean Boulevard with police in hot pursuit, according to the affidavit.

The chaos continued when authorities conducted a felony stop, ordering her to turn off the engine and step out of her car. She still didn’t comply, prompting officers to place stop sticks beneath her tires and to break the rear windshield, along with the rear driver-side window.

WPEC reported Scharf’s pit bull jumped out of the car and charged at police, biting one of them in the process. An officer shot the dog twice. It was taken to a veterinarian for treatment, but it later died, according to the news station.

Scharf was eventually removed from the car and arrested.

She is now facing two counts of aggravated assault with a vehicle, felony fleeing, and resisting an officer without violence.

This is just one incident in a series of disturbing events that have taken place around Mar-a-Lago since Trump became president.

Some have involved other people exhibiting strange behavior, like the woman who smeared bananas on vehicles and typed “explicit” messages on a clubhouse computer in 2017, WPEC reported.

Some have involved breaches by foreign nationals, including two in 2019, both involving Chinese women.

In August 2020, three teenage boys were arrested after jumping a perimeter wall. What may have initially looked like a prank turned deadly serious when officers found an AK-47 in a backpack.

That same year, a Connecticut woman was arrested after crashing a vehicle through two security barricades outside Mar-a-Lago, according to the Miami Herald.

In February, an armed man carrying what appeared to be a shotgun and a fuel can managed to breach the perimeter. Secret Service agents and a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputy opened fire, killing Austin Tucker Martin, 21, who had traveled all the way from North Carolina.

This article originally appeared on The Western Journal and is reposted with permission.