Teen charged with stealing Trump campaign team SUV from Pfister Hotel

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By Jolan Kruse and Cary Spivak

A 17-year-old was arrested Saturday and charged with stealing a Chevy Tahoe belonging to former president Donald Trump‘s campaign advance team.

Trump is in Milwaukee for the 2024 Republican National Convention. He arrived Sunday, a day after the vehicle was stolen.

The incident began in front of the Pfister Hotel about 4 a.m., according to a criminal complaint against the teen filed in Milwaukee County Criminal Court. The complaint charges him with operating a motor vehicle without consent, a felony, and criminal damage to property, a misdemeanor.

The complaint accuses the teen of breaking into a valet lockbox at the Pfister Hotel on East Wisconsin Avenue.

He then drove the car through the parking gate at the Mason Street exit, the complaint alleges. A security guard told police he caught the door handle of the vehicle and attempted to open it as the teen drove by, but it was locked, according to the complaint.

Police used GPS to track the car to the Walmart at 6300 Brown Deer Road, and arrested the teen inside the store.

Police said they found the key to the Tahoe and multiple other keys when they arrested him.

The teen later claimed he was looking for an outlet in the Pfister to charge his phone when he saw a locked cabinet and broke into it out of curiosity.

He was being held on $2,000 bail at Milwaukee County Jail as of Wednesday afternoon, according to the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s website. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 23.

The Journal Sentinel is not naming the 17-year-old because he is a minor.

Reporter John Diedrich contributed to this article.

This article first appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and was republished with permission.