Two US Secret Service agents have been removed from President Barack Obama’s security detail.
Two US Secret Service agents are under investigation for alleged sexual misconduct and have been removed from President Barack Obama’s security detail.
It was first reported by The Washington Post last month that Ignacio Zamora Jr., former Secret Service supervisor had tried in May to force his way into a woman’s room at the Hay-Adams Hotel, near the White House. After hotel personnel reported Zamora’s behavior, the Secret Service launched an investigation on the issue.
According to the service’s internal findings, Zamora was off duty when he met the woman at the hotel and later joined her in her room. But he had identified himself to hotel security as a Secret Service agent. When he exited the room he realized that he had left a bullet of his handgun. He returned to the room but the woman refused to let him back in, and Zamora tried to use force to get in.
The woman has not been identified.
In a follow-up investigation, US officials also found that Zamora and another supervisor, Timothy Barraclough, had sent sexually suggestive emails to a female subordinate, the Post said Thursday, citing people familiar with the case.
The review of the two agents’ communications revealed that they had sent inappropriate and suggestive messages to the female agent.
According to the newspaper, details about the case were provided by four people including two who have viewed summaries of the internal Secret Service review.
The incident came a year after several Secret Service’s male agents brought prostitutes back to their hotel rooms after a night of heavy drinking. That incident sparked a noisy scandal too, leading the agency to be the subject of congressional hearings, multiple investigations and questions about whether it had fostered a male-dominated culture of sexism and partying.
ARA/ARA
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