An embarrassing scandal involving prostitutes and Secret Service agents deepened Saturday as 11 agents were placed on leave, and the agency designed to protect President Obama had to offer regret for the mess overshadowing his diplomatic mission to Latin America.

The controversy also expanded to the U.S. military, which announced five service members staying at the same hotel as the agents in Colombia may have been involved in misconduct as well. They were confined to their quarters in Colombia and ordered not to have contact with others.

All the alleged activities took place before Obama arrived Friday in this Colombian port city for meetings with 33 other regional leaders.

Put together, the allegations were an embarrassment for an American president on foreign soil and threatened to upend White House efforts to keep his trip focused squarely on boosting economic ties with fast-growing Latin America. Obama was holding two days of meetings at the Summit of the Americas with leaders from across the vast region before heading back to Washington Sunday night.

The Secret Service did not disclose the nature of the misconduct. The Associated Press confirmed on Friday that it involved prostitutes.

[EDITED]

Rep. Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, told the AP after he was briefed on the investigation on Saturday that "close to" all 11 of the agents involved had brought women back to their rooms at a hotel separate from where Obama is now staying.

The New York Republican said the women were "presumed to be prostitutes" but investigators were interviewing the agents.

The lawmaker also offered new details about the controversy.

King said he was told that anyone visiting the hotel overnight was required to leave identification at the front desk and leave the hotel by 7 a.m. When a woman failed to do so, it raised questions among hotel staff and police, who investigated. They found the woman with the agent in the hotel room and a dispute arose over whether the agent should have paid her.

King said he was told that the agent did eventually pay the woman.

The incident was reported to the U.S. embassy, prompting further investigation, King said.

The 11 employees in question were special agents and Uniformed Division Officers. None were assigned to directly protect Obama. All were sent home and replaced, Morrissey said, given "the nature of the allegations" and a zero tolerance policy on personal misconduct.

The Secret Service says the incidents have had no bearing on its ability to provide security for Obama's stay in Colombia.

Another jolt came Saturday when the U.S. Southern Command said five service members assigned to support the Secret Service violated their curfew and may have been involved in inappropriate conduct. Carney said it was part of the same incident involving the Secret Service.

As for the apparent misconduct by the military members, Gen. Douglas Fraser, commander of U.S. Southern Command, said he was "disappointed by the entire incident" and said the behavior was "not in keeping with the professional standards expected of members of the United States military."

Col. Scott Malcom, chief of public affairs for Southern Command, said of the five service members: "The only misconduct I can confirm is that they were violating the curfew established." He said he had seen the news reports about the Secret Service agents involved in alleged prostitution at the hotel but could not confirm whether the service members also were involved.

The military is investigating.

The Secret Service agents at the center of the allegations had stayed at Cartagena's five-star Hotel Caribe. Several members of the White House staff and press corps subsequently stayed at the hotel.

King credited the Secret Service director for acting quickly to remove the agents in question and replace them before Obama's arrival.

A hotel employee, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of losing his job, said the agents arrived at the beachfront hotel about a week ago and said the agents left the hotel Thursday, a day before Obama and other regional leaders arrived for the weekend summit.

[EDITED]

http://www.usatoday.com/n...54288640/1

Why I do think this isn't the first time a Secret Service advance team has had fun prior to the President's arrival?

It's disingenious of the military to act as if U.S. military personnel don't consort with prostitutes.

so they needed some whats the big deal ...

hmmm. guard the president or hookup? tough decision

Quick, Easy, No Muss, No Fuss.

XxAxX said:

hmmm. guard the president or hookup? tough decision

In all fairness, I'm sure most of them had never had a Columbian woman before so . . . . .

The POTUS was a couple of days out, so . . . boys will be boys? lol

[Edited 4/16/12 18:03pm]

But didn't this come to light because somebody didn't want to pay?

You got to pay to play.

Finally, an Obama sex scandal

[EDITED]

The anticipated round of resignations and firings would follow the agency's announcement Wednesday that three officials involved in the scandal are leaving their posts. One official resigned. Another described as a supervisory employee was allowed to retire, and the agency moved to dismiss another supervisory employee for cause.

Lawrence Berger, general counsel for the Federal Law Enforcement Officials Association, confirmed Thursday to the Associated Press that he is representing the two supervisors, Greg Stokes and David Chaney, but said he could not discuss details of the investigation.

Eleven agents and at least 10 military servicemembers — all part of an advance team that traveled to Colombia ahead of President Obama's visit last weekend for theSummit of the Americas— allegedly brought as many as 21 prostitutes to a hotel in Cartagena.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Rep.Elijah Cummings, D-Md., have called on Sullivan to give lawmakers summaries of past misconduct by Secret Service officials during overseas trips over the past five years and to answer what lapses in agency policy may have contributed to the incident.

The two lawmakers also have asked the director for the disciplinary history of the officials involved in the incident and whether the Secret Service has been able to determine whether all of the women involved in the incident are at least 18.

Arnette Heintze, who was a Secret Service agent from 1983 to 2003, said it is not unprecedented for agents to be recalled from international details for misconduct, including "too much drinking," but he said the allegations raised in the Colombia incident represent "a tragedy" for the Secret Service.

"This is not part of the culture of the agency that I worked for," Heintze said.

White House press secretary Jay Carney cautioned that it's too early to draw broad conclusions about the scandal, noting that the investigation is less than a week old.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he anticipated hearings about the incident but doubted there's much Congress could do. "There's not a committee hearing that's going to take the place or stop people from being stupid," Reid said.

http://www.usatoday.com/n...54420028/1

Ten + eleven does equal 21.

Did somebody really keep a log of all this over five years? I doubt it. How many of them are married?

[edited]

A 24-year-old prostitute told The New York Times this week that the scandal became public after she fought over payment with one of the Secret Service employees, and it spilled out into the hallway of the Hotel Caribe on April 12.

Jose Pena, a Cartagena taxi driver, told The Associated Press that he picked up the woman after the dispute. She said she left the hotel, where other members of the security detail and the White House press corps were staying, after she was paid $225.

In Cartagena this week, sex workers and hotel staff were reluctant to speak about the incident, which has become an election year embarrassment in the U.S.

Prostitution is legal in Colombia, and Cartagena thrives on the sex tourism industry, Mayor Campo Elias readily acknowledged, with hundreds of prostitutes available on any given night throughout the colonial walled city.

[edited]

http://news.smh.com.au/br...1xbpm.html

I had no clue it was legal.