The criminal case against a Las Vegas man who drove into a Coachella parking lot with guns in his vehicle to attend a Trump campaign rally to which he’d been invited, eliciting comments from Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco that the invitee was a possible assassin, is now resolved.
Vem Miller, 51, completed a six-month misdemeanor diversion program at the end of July, formally ending all criminal court proceedings.
“Sheriff Bianco falsely accused me of being the `third Trump assassin,”’ Miller said in a social media post earlier this week. “He also said that I had fake IDs, fake passports, a fake (campaign) entry pass … and that I’m a sovereign citizen. The worldwide media went wild with this story for 48 hours. Everything that was said by Bianco relating to criminal acts was a lie.”
Miller did not specifically address disposition of the misdemeanor charge of carrying a loaded firearm in public without a permit.
According to the District Attorney’s Office, the defense requested diversion in January, which is often used as a means of resolving cases outside the typical process of adjudication. Mental or behavioral health issues may justify its utilization.
Superior Court Judge James Hodgkins granted the defense’s motion over the objections of prosecutors.
The judge directed Miller to pay a $100 fine, serve 40 hours of community service within a six-month span, complete eight hours of gun safety courses and four hours of “life skills” classes.
Miller met all requirements by the deadline of July 30. At that point, the defense requested that his case be placed under seal, making the record of prior proceedings inaccessible to the general public. The judge agreed.
Miller filed a federal suit against Bianco and Riverside County in March 2025, alleging multiple civil rights violations and public denigration of character. The matter was placed in the docket of U.S. District Court Judge Kenly Kato in Riverside. She dismissed the civil complaint at the end of 2025. Miller’s civil attorney earlier this year filed an appeal challenging the dismissal. That case could possibly be heard by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the coming months.
Miller has been a member of the Nevada Republican Party and was a Trump campaign activist in 2024. He received “expedited special entry passes” to attend the Coachella rally on Oct. 12 of that year. Bianco was an emcee for the event.
Shortly after his arrest, Miller released an audio tape of his interaction with Deputy David Coronado after pulling up to the campaign VIP parking area entrance.
In Miller’s tape, he could be heard voluntarily declaring that he’s a GOP “caucus captain from Nevada,” that he “wants to be totally transparent,” and “I do have my firearms in the back, in the trunk … a shotgun and a handgun.”
Miller went on to say he had no intention of taking the guns out of the vehicle. He’s then directed to park and wait.
Bianco said in a news briefing a day after Miller’s arrest that a deputy had noticed “the interior of (the suspect’s) vehicle in disarray (and what appeared to be) a fake license plate,” raising suspicions.
“The license plate was homemade and indicative of individuals who claim to be sovereign citizens,” Bianco said, suggesting there were concerns Miller might be some kind of militiaman. The sheriff also alleged there were “multiple fake passports” in the vehicle.
“As far as I’m concerned, a minimum of 25,000 people passed deputies with legitimate identification and didn’t have guns,” Bianco said. “I probably did have deputies that prevented the third assassination attempt. I truly do believe that we prevented another assassination attempt.”
The U.S. Secret Service and FBI found no justification for an investigation into a possible attempted assassination. Bianco walked back his original statement a few days later.
Miller accused the sheriff of slander, saying he used the incident to heighten his profile ahead of his official announcement for a gubernatorial run in California.
The Nevada man has called out Bianco on a number of issues via social media since October 2024. He has also periodically called into Board of Supervisors’ meetings to voice his opinions.