Each of President Donald Trump’s trips to his “Winter White House” at Mar-a-Lago costs taxpayers millions in transportation and security — but a college freshman walked right into the private club, past the Secret Service, while Trump and his family were staying there.“I wanted to see how far I could get,” Mark Lindblom, an 18-year-old business major at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told the judge presiding over his case, according to the Palm Beach Post.Lindblom was in Florida for Thanksgiving last year visiting his grandparents, who are members at Palm Beach Bath & Tennis Club, which shares a beach with Mar-a-Lago. The teen found a tunnel that runs from the beach into the club, through which Mar-a-Lago members can access the beach. After waiting in line with other beachgoers, he passed through a metal detector and then by Secret Service agents, who wanded him and let him through.“We have no reason to believe he had a political, criminal, or terroristic purpose,” the Assistant U.S. Attorney John McMillan said in court on Tuesday, according to the Palm Beach Post. “It was a foolish decision he did on a lark.”All Lindblom did was take a few pictures on his phone, and he got off with a slap on the wrist. The teen could have spent up to 6 months in jail, but U.S. Magistrate William Matthewman opted, instead, to put him on probation for a year.“I’m sure you’ll become a productive member of society despite this youthful indiscretion,” the judge said before sending Lindblom on his way.Yujing Zhang wasn’t so lucky. The 32-year-old Chinese national is facing charges that could land her a year in jail and up to $350,000 in fines for entering the Mar-a-Lago grounds with authorization, according to the Miami Herald.Zhang shelled out around $20,000 to buy her way into an event at the private club, which had been cancelled by the time she got there. So she lied her way in — with malware. (She’s not great at lying.)She told Secret Service that the only reason that she’d come to Mar-a-Lago was because some guy named Charles had told her to over WeChat.Cover image: President Donald Trump is seen sitting inside his armored SUV as he departs his Mar-a-Lago estate to attend Easter services at nearby Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea, Sunday, April 21, 2019, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
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