The Donald Trump fan busted for trying to scale Trump Tower this week kept his obsession with the Republican presidential nominee under wraps — along with plans for his daredevil stunt, co-workers said Thursday.
Stephen Rogata, 19, was “a very quiet guy” while performing manual labor at the Pots and Plants on the Pike gardening center in Great Falls, Va.
“It’s weird, because we all never heard him talk about politics,” former Langley High School classmate Ethan Warrick said.
Another nursery worker, Yevgeni Onufrak, 17, said Rogata — whose birth name is Michael Ryan — was “normal, I guess, but a little weird” and socially awkward.
Cops said Rogata checked into the Bowery Grand Hotel in Chinatown on Tuesday before using suction cups to scale the 58-story skyscraper in a failed bid to get a meeting with Trump. He was nabbed on the 21st floor by cops who removed a window pane and hauled him in at 6:35 p.m. Wednesday, about three hours into his stunt.
Rogata was charged with first-degree reckless endangerment, a felony, and criminal trespass, but his arraignment was on hold pending a psychiatric evaluation at Bellevue Hospital.