The U.S. Secret Service has temporarily locked down the White House's North Lawn after three men were arrested within a span of 24 hours for attempting to break into the White House grounds late Sunday evening and early Monday morning.
Secret Service spokesperson Brian Leary says 27-year-old Michael J. Fogg of Newport News, Virginia was arrested and taken into custody by the 2nd District bureau of Washington D.C.'s Metropolitan Police Department after entering a pedestrian gate at East Executive Avenue at around 6:45 a.m. on Monday. Leary says the man went behind a construction worker and slipped in just in time before the gate closed. After being stopped by a uniformed Secret Service agent, the man became confrontational and was brought to the police department and is now facing unlawful entry charges.
The incident took place just hours after two other attempted break-ins the day before. On Sunday afternoon, a man now identified as Curtis Smith of Coatesville, Pennsylvania was arrested after jumping over a stone wall near the northwest vehicle entrance on 15th Street and E Street. Smith made it to a restricted sidewalk near the south fence before he was caught by Secret Service.
Police records show Smith said he "left home of origin and drove to White House to pass a message to the President." Smith was charged with a misdemeanor of unlawful entry but was released on bond.
Hours afterwards, a second break-in incident took place outside the south gate near the William Sherman Monument when a man identified as Ian R. Boone of Cambridge, Ontario climbed over the bike rack surrounding the White House. Leary tells Politico that the man put his leg over the bike rack, an act considered unlawful, but he did not appear to be attempting to break in. Reports say the U.S. Attorney for Washington D.C. declined to file charges against Boone.
The Secret Service has been grappling with trespassers since September, when Omar J. Gonzales, 42, who claims to have served as a sniper in Iraq, was able to break into the White House grounds and got as far as 70 yards into the front double doors of the White House's North Portico, which is just one flight of stairs away from the President and his family's living quarters. The man, who was carrying a small serrated knife, was cornered by an officer standing at the door.
"What we have seen is very troubling," says Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.). "We've seen an increasing number of such incidents and you have to ask yourself, 'What will stop them?'"
In November, Secret Service director Joseph Clancy said at a hearing regarding the White House fence jumpers that a higher fence "would certainly help." He also said that the agency was looking for ways and options and had drawn up some renderings for approval.
Photo: Kathleen Conklin | Flickr
Banner: Carol M. Highsmith | Wikimedia
