A U.S. Secret Service agent assigned to President Barack Obama’s protective detail was found dead on Saturday in an apparent suicide, a law enforcement source said on Thursday.
Special agent Rafael Prieto was under investigation for having an unreported romantic relationship with a foreign national, the source said.
The agent’s death is being investigated by the District of Columbia police, said Max Milien, a spokesman for the Secret Service.
“Rafael Prieto has a distinguished 20-year career with the Secret Service that was marked by accomplishment, dedication, friendships and the Secret Service is mourning a valued colleague,” said Milien.
Prieto was not under investigation for compromising sensitive or classified information, but because he was involved in an administrative proceeding to see if he was in violation of Secret Service rules, the source said.
Gwendolyn Crump, a spokeswoman for the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, would not provide details about an ongoing investigation.
The Secret Service, which prides itself in unobtrusively protecting the president and vice president, has found itself under unaccustomed public scrutiny in recent months.
Secret Service employees were accused of bringing women, some of them prostitutes, back to their hotel rooms in Colombia in April during a trip to prepare for a visit by the president. The agency said later that nine personnel were found to have been involved in serious misconduct.
A government investigation concluded their actions did not compromise the president’s safety, but the event was an embarrassment for the Secret Service and its director issued a stricter code of conduct afterward.
A Secret Service officer was arrested in Miami last month the day after a visit by Obama after having been found passed out on a street corner.
Officers are uniformed members of the agency, and perform support services, in contrast to plain-clothed agents who directly guard the president and vice president.
(Reporting By Mark Felsenthal; Editing by Eric Walsh and Peter Cooney)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/02/us-usa-whitehouse-secretservice-idUSBRE8A104720121102
Was the “romantic relationship with a foreign national” with our boy Barry?? After all, he’s a foreign national!! And I think he swings in that direction!
HEY,… SECRET SERVICE!!!!
Now this criminal organization in the White house has taken out one of your own!!!!
Are you pussy’s going to keep allowing a traitor to run this country?
If yes,.. then don’t complain when Obama decides its time for you,.. or one of your fellow agents to be murdered for the,.. “good of the admistration”.
So now we have the pyschos inside, and outside the White House have now officially murdered Secret Service Agents,… CIA (Think Philip Marshall),… FBI Agents (you know,… the ones that,.. “fell” out of the helicopter,… at the same time!),… Navy Seals,…. Military Officials across the board,…. Reporters,… Loyal Americans,…. and an untold number of Americans across this whole country!
When will it be enough,.. even for you people in the Secret Service?
JD – US Marines – Don’t say it can’t happen to you,.. a 20 year veteran like Rafael Prieto said it,.. and now look at him.
give um hell JD
I am right there beside you………!
The Secret Service is and has been guarding the treasonous bastards in the halls of government for a very long time now.There is no enough for them as long as they can ride the gravy train job.They are as much of a problem as the traitors they are protecting . Our only hope is that the real patriots in the military wake up to this treason and join patriotic Americans to once and for all put an end to the tyranny sweeping over this nation like a plague.All the while they Liar and Thief in the White House tells the uninformed sheep that things are getting better. What a load of BS that is! Even the pentagon is being filled with hand picked traitors but that isn’t surprising either as that hell hole has been filled with traitors for many years too!
Think of all the Clinton associates (and potential witnesses against)that died of ‘natural causes’ from Vice Foster (suicide – yeah right!) to the people with gunshot wounds to the back of the head ruled suicide as well to the kids (teens) found dead on train tracks ruled as they fell asleep on the tracks.
Highly suspicious this was a suicide.
Don’t SS agents take an oath LIKE THE MILITARY to defend the Constitution / nation against all enemies both foreign & domestic?
Sounds a lot like the suicide they had in Texas, the guy was so despondent he shot himself in the back of the head 7 times.