Prostitute's $50 fee for two agents triggered Secret Service scandal

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Prostitute's $50 fee for two agents triggered Secret Service scandal

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/17/11251326-nbc-prostitutes-50-fee-for-two-agents-triggered-secret-service-scandal?lite

By Michael Isikoff and Jim Miklaszewski, NBC News

The Colombian prostitute who triggered the scandal that has rocked the Secret Service got angry with two agents who refused to pay her full price for servicing the two of them, leading to a financial dispute over between $40 and $60, according to a government source who has been briefed on the investigation.

Two agents from the service's elite Counter Assault Team, in Cartagena, Colombia, in advance of President Barack Obama's arrival for the Summit of the Americas over the weekend, had procured the women's services at a local strip club called the Pley Club on the evening of April 11. All the Secret Service agents and officers implicated in the scandal are believed to have gone to the club that evening and brought back women, a U.S. official told NBC News.

The controversy arose after one of the women went back to a hotel room with two agents. The woman wanted to be paid for serving both agents, the source who has been briefed on the probe told NBC News. Instead, the agents would only agree to split her price, prompting the woman to complain to local police who were stationed in the lobby of the Caribe Hotel, the source said.

The police then went up to the agents' room and began banging on the door, which the agents at first refused to open, the source said. There are conflicting reports over how the payment dispute was resolved. But two government sources told NBC News the police contacted the U.S. Embassy over the dispute and Embassy officials then arrived at the scene.

[global1]

1. Money Did Change Hands....

where did that money come from? Are the Secret Service agents being serviced (no pun intended) on taxpayers money?

[freshwest]

2. In some way, yes. The travel, room board and hours would always be on the public dime.

A job like that would be on call 24 hours, and paid for.

[rucky]

9. I hope they saved their receipts.

[Xipe Totec]

3. Cheapskates! They deserve whatever is coming to them. nt

[TheWraith]

13. It does seem kind of gobsmacking to me.

I mean, I don't imagine that they're being paid a fortune, but come on... a presidential advance team isn't exactly going to be poor, and it's fifty freaking dollars.

[BeyondGeography]

4. Shoulda paid the $2

[Fumesucker]

5. I'd be willing to wager a small sum they've done this before..

It never even occurred to them that she would go to the police..

Kind of like the way some of us here at DU laugh at drug dealers who call the cops if they are ripped off.

[doc03]

8. I agree, the Secret Service just all of a sudden didn't turn into

sex maniacs. I'll bet this has been SOP for some time now.

[HipChick]

10. I would like to hear from female agents...

[monmouth]

6. Repubs are ticked off they can't connect any of this to POTUS. They would have loved that..n/t

[grasswire]

7. it could have been a MAJOR security breach

Last edited Tue Apr 17, 2012, 10:02 PM - Edit history (1)

The Secret Service members -- including agents and uniformed officers -- were stripped of their security clearances on Monday.

Included in that group were two high-level Secret Service supervisors, three counter assault officers whose job is to repel attacks and three sniper-team members, who take to rooftops to secure areas where the president might visit, NBC News reported.

U.S. officials have described the agents' conduct as a potential security breach especially because all the agents involved had access to the president's day-by-day, minute-by-minute schedule.

[customerserviceguy]

11. Yep

I'd bet some drug lord who would have had a ready connection to those sex workers would have loved to have had the information, and offed the President, just because he could. This is not only disgusting, this was dangerous. The SS people who got stripped of security clearances should be jailed for potentially imperiling our Chief Executive just because they wanted a booty call.

[MrSlayer]

12. Just pay for the service and nothing happens.

Idiots.