Woman accused of hurling shoe at Hillary Clinton arrested in Phoenix, returned to Las Vegas

The woman accused of throwing a shoe at Hillary Clinton during a speaking engagement in Las Vegas last week has been arrested in Phoenix on federal charges.

The U.S. Secret Service filed a criminal complaint against Alison Michelle Ernst in Las Vegas on Sunday charging her with with two misdemeanor counts — trespassing on a restricted building or grounds and violence against a person in a restricted building or grounds.

Natalie Collins, a spokeswoman for the Nevada U.S. attorney’s office, said Ernst was arrested Monday night in Phoenix, where she lives.

According to court records, Ernst appeared briefly Tuesday afternoon before a federal magistrate judge in Phoenix and was ordered to remain in custody and transported to Las Vegas by U.S. marshals to face the misdemeanor charges.

Ernst, 36, signed a document asserting her Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights to remain silent and not to talk to federal agents outside the presence of her court-appointed lawyer.

She was originally charged by Las Vegas police with misdemeanor disorderly conduct and later released.

Authorities took Ernst into custody Thursday after she allegedly hurled a black and orange Puma cleat at Clinton while the former U.S. secretary of state was addressing a metal recycling conference at the Mandalay Bay. The shoe missed Clinton, and she made light of the interruption during her speech.

District Attorney Steve Wolfson said Monday he likely will drop the local case against Ernst now that she faces federal charges.

In the federal complaint, Secret Service Agent Edward Autelli said Ernst threw the “soccer shoe” and some papers at Clinton in an area cordoned off by agents.

Ernst did not have a ticket to get into the restricted area and “somehow got past” the people checking tickets, Autelli wrote.

A secret Service agent saw Ernst approaching the stage but could not get to her before she threw the shoe and papers at Clinton. The shoe passed near Clinton’s head, causing her to “flinch and duck,” according to Autelli.

The federal complaint did not say whether the woman arrested Thursday was the same Alison Michelle Ernst who in 2012 caused a scene at a court hearing for James Holmes, the man accused of killing 12 people and wounding dozens in an Aurora, Colo., movie theater shooting.

Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135. Find him on Twitter @JGermanRJ.