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Secret Service Fires Two Officers After March Fence-Jumping Incident at White House

AP
April 17, 2017

The Secret Service has fired two officers after an incident on March 10 during which a man scaled the White House fence and walked around the property for several minutes undetected.

The officers were on the job less than a year when California native Jonathan Tran, 26, climbed a five-foot tall fence and an eight-foot gate before hopping a three-and-a-half foot fence and walked the White House grounds, CNN reported Thursday. Tran had first scaled a fence in the Northwest corner of the Treasury Building.

Tran set off multiple sensors, but officers had difficulty locating him. It took 15 minutes for the Secret Service to find and arrest Tran. President Donald Trump was home at the White House at the time.

Tran made it just steps from a main door to the executive mansion.

The fired officers, who were part of the service's uniformed division, were on guard duty, posted at the Treasury Building and an entrance to East Executive Avenue. After Tran was detected, the alert level for the White House grounds was raised.

The March 10 incident followed other similar situations at the White House during the Obama administration, including one time when a man was able to get past officers and into the White House East Room.