The man who set himself on fire in a park near former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial was detained three times in Florida last year, including throwing alcohol at a framed autograph of Bill Clinton, according to police records.
Records obtained by The Post show that Max Azzarello’s legal troubles in the Sunshine State lasted several days, during which he faced charges of minor criminal mischief and disturbing the peace.
In a mug shot, Azzarello has his tongue sticking out and one eye closed.
The 37-year-old’s first encounter with St. Augustine police occurred on August 19, 2023, when he allegedly threw a glass of wine at Bill Clinton’s autograph on a wall protected by a frame within the lobby of the Casa Monica Hotel, according to reports.
“The wine glass broke, spreading wine on the frame, the wall, and the autograph,” according to the report. “… When the wine ran under the frame, it discolored the autograph as well as the surrounding wall.”
Two days later, he was arrested again for allegedly stripping down to his boxers and shouting at customers at the same hotel, among other odd conduct, according to another report.
He allegedly entered a nearby fountain and cursed out hotel clients “in an intimidating manner” before an officer arrested him on August 21.
Then, on August 24, he was captured on a security camera apparently writing on a little sign outside the Little Free Library before smashing a pest control sign next door, according to a police complaint.
The police complaint claims that the destroyed sign warned onlookers not to enter the treated yard with pets or children.
“Azzarello was misinterpreting the sign and was telling me that the pest control company was there to exterminate children and dogs,” a police officer noted in the report.
The police documentation from Azzarello’s final arrest showed that he was suicidal. He was also listed as unemployed.
Azzarello stayed in the St. Johns County Jail until October 3, when he was sentenced to 180 days of probation and released.
Prior to his arrests, Azzarello stated in a Facebook post on August 9, 2023, that he spent “three days in the psych ward,” although that allegation could not be easily verified.
Azzarello also wrote on Instagram four months ago that he was “protesting and breaking unwritten rules in St. Augustine, taunting cops, embracing the homeless, celebrating the freedom of leaving a cult, and begging anybody and everybody to join me in this liberation.”
Azzarello defines himself in online profiles as an “investigative researcher,” yet his extensive writings and rants reveal him to be a conspiracy theorist.
He arrived in New York last week, but his family was unaware he had left Florida, according to the NYPD.
Azzarello flung documents into the air shortly before self-immolating, including printouts of a Substack newsletter nicknamed “The Ponzi Papers.”
His final article, “I have set myself on fire outside the Trump trial,” came with a manifesto full of conspiracy theories and the names of significant figures.
He referenced former President Bill Clinton, whom he attempted to sue last year in a massive yet conspiracy-laden complaint, alongside more than 100 other individuals.
The case was swiftly dismissed.
“My name is Max Azzarello, and I am an investigative researcher who has set himself on fire outside of the Trump trial in Manhattan,” the roughly 2,700-word message begins.
“This extreme act of protest is to draw attention to an urgent and important discovery: We are victims of a totalitarian con, and our own government (along with many of their allies) is about to hit us with an apocalyptic fascist world coup.”
Azzarello is a resident of St. Augustine, Florida, according to the arrest records.
