Jury finds Chinese woman guilty of illegally entering Mar-a-Lago

Sept. 11 (UPI) -- A federal jury on Wednesday found a Chinese woman guilty of illegally entering President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in South Florida.

After 4 hours of deliberation, the jury said Yujing Zhang, 33, was guilty of lying to a federal agent and gaining access to a restricted building.

Secret Service agents arrested Zhang in April after they found her at the Palm Beach, Fla., property carrying two passports and a thumb drive containing computer malware. She originally told an agent she was a member of the club and wanted to use the pool.

Once inside the club Zhang said she was there to attend a United Nations Chinese American Association but agents were summoned to the area after it was determined no such event was scheduled for that night.

During the two-day trial, evidence from Zhang's cellphone revealed she knew the event had been canceled and that she asked organizers for a refund.

Zhang then allegedly told agent Samuel Ivanovich she came early to familiarize herself with the club and take photos and showed him an invitation to the event that was written in Chinese and he was unable to read.

Ivanovich said Zhang didn't have a swimsuit, but was carrying four cellphones, a laptop computer, an external hard drive and a thumb drive containing computer malware.

"She said she was there for a United Nations friendship event," Assistant U.S. Attorney Rolando Garcia said during the trial. "Well, that was a clear lie.

"She was bound and determined to get on that property ... She lied to everybody to get on that property."

Trump was visiting Mar-a-Lago at the time of the incident, but he was golfing at one of his nearby clubs at the time.

Zhang faces up to six years in prison during sentencing, which begins Nov. 22.