WASHINGTON (AP) Two U.S. Secret Service officers are under investigation and have been removed from President Barack Obama's detail following allegations of misconduct, according to The Washington Post.
The allegations do not appear to involve a direct breach of Obama's security, but rather sexually-related misconduct, recalling previous scandals that have cast a spotlight on the service and its traditionally male-dominated culture.
The investigation stems from an incident during the spring at the Hay-Adams Hotel, an upscale hotel steps away from the White House, involving a senior supervisor responsible for about two dozen agents in the presidential security detail. The Post reported on its website that supervisor Ignacio Zamora Jr., was allegedly discovered trying to re-enter the room of a woman he had met in the hotel's bar after accidentally leaving a bullet from his service weapon in her hotel room.
After the woman refused to let him back in, Zamora sought access from hotel staff, who notified the White House, a Secret Service review found. In the subsequent probe, investigators came across sexually suggestive emails that Zamora and another supervisor, Timothy Barraclough, had sent to a female subordinate, the newspaper reported, citing people with knowledge of the case.
Zamora has been pulled from his position, while Barraclough has been moved off the detail to a separate part of the division, people familiar with the case told the Post.
