PANAMA CITY BEACH — A 90-year-old Alabama woman and her 67-year-old daughter who purported to be affiliated with the president were arrested after they refused to leave a condo they stayed in without permission, police reported.
Ruth Luker and daughter Pamela Luker Mitchell, of Talladega, Ala., were caught by carpet cleaners who showed up to clean a unit in the Aqua Vista Condominiums on Front Beach Road, according to police records. The carpet cleaners called management and management called the unit’s owners.
The owners had sent the cleaners because they expected the unit would be vacant; after all, they hadn’t rented it to anyone during the four days the women had been staying. The owners told police they wanted the women charged if they didn’t immediately cough up $210 per day plus $115 for cleaning services.
Police arrived at the room and asked the women if they had permission to be there. Mitchell began immediately to yell at police, and then she started dropping names, investigators reported.
They had permission all right; the United States attorney general had authorized their stay, Mitchell told police.
Police said they tried to reason with the women, reminding them they could avoid criminal charges if they simply paid. Mitchell told them she had “the golden key” that allowed her stay in whatever unit she wanted; her uncle owned the whole building, she said.
Police again threatened to arrest them, but they weren’t going anywhere.
Police arrested the women, who allegedly continued to resist leaving the room. They also refused to provide any information that would identify them or allow police to contact their family, but Mitchell hinted at her possible employer, investigators reported.
“Ms. Mitchell stated to me President Obama will not be happy with me for arresting her since she is employed by him directly,” an officer wrote in a report.
The women had stayed in the unit in May, and they made a duplicate key they used to open the room when they returned, police said.
The relationship between the women and the federal government is unknown at this time. The White House and the U.S. Attorney General’s Office didn’t immediately return calls seeking comment Friday.