A 49-year-old Las Vegas man was arrested Saturday, Oct. 12 near former President Donald Trump’s campaign rally in Coachella Valley after deputies found a loaded firearm in his car.
Around 5 p.m., deputies assigned to Trump’s rally “made contact” with the driver, Vem Miller, in a black SUV at a checkpoint on the intersection of Avenue 52 and Celebration Drive. Miller was later found to be in illegal possession of a shotgun, loaded handgun, and a high-capacity magazine, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department said in a news release.
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco told the Southern California News Group on Sunday that he believes Miller — who he said is a member of a right–leaning anti-government group — planned to kill Trump and that deputies thwarted the plan when Miller presented fake VIP and press passes at a checkpoint.
“They were different enough to cause the deputies alarm,” Bianco said. “We probably stopped another assassination attempt.”
Miller is a registered Republican who holds a master’s degree from UCLA, and who ran for state assembly in Nevada in 2022.
Bianco said Miller considers himself a so-called sovereign citizen, a group of people who do not believe they are subject to any government statutes unless they consent to them.
The Sheriff’s Department set up what Bianco called a double perimeter that controlled access within a half mile of the rally. Residents were allowed through, but they were watched to make sure they drove to their neighborhoods and not toward the rally.
Miller was caught at one of those checkpoints.
Bianco said that the last he heard, Miller had not made any statements to investigators.
The sheriff said he is in disbelief.
“I thought it’s not going to happen in Riverside County. We don’t have the same sicko issues and violent protests like they have in Los Angeles. We’re better than that. Go figure.”
Bianco said U.S. Secret Service officials said his department went “above and beyond” in their efforts to protect Trump and others who attended the rally.
“I am extremely proud of the mental and physical effort our deputies showed all day,” said Bianco, who noted high temperatures in the desert area were near 100 degrees.
Bianco also said the FBI is questioning another man after bomb-detecting dogs “repeatedly” identified him as possibly dangerous. That man was not allowed in the rally, Bianco said.
Miller was booked at the John J. Benoit Detention Center for possessing a loaded firearm and high-capacity magazine, authorities said.
He was released Saturday on $5,000 bail and is scheduled to appear at the Indio Larson Justice Center on Jan. 2, 2025, according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department inmate database.
The incident did not impact the safety of Trump or those at the event, the sheriff’s department said.
In September, 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh was charged with attempting to assassinate Trump as the former president played golf. U.S. Secret Service agents found Routh with a high-powered rifle on Sept. 15 outside Trump International Golf Club in Palm Beach. Agents spotted the barrel of his weapon in the bushes and fired at him before he fled.
On July 13, 2024, at a rally near Butler, Pennsylvania, Matthew Crooks shot at Trump with an AR-15–style rifle from a nearby rooftop as Trump gave a campaign speech. Crooks hit Trump’s ear with a shot and killed one attendee while critically injuring two others before Crooks was killed by Secret Service counter-sniper agents.
City News Service contributed to this report. More information will be added as it becomes available.
