Sounds like these guys were having way too much fun in Colombia.
An embarrassing scandal involving prostitutes and Secret Service agents deepened this past weekend as 11 agents were placed on leave, and the agency designed to protect President Barack Obama had to offer regret for the mess overshadowing his diplomatic mission to Colombia.
The Pentagon is investigating an advance team led by the Secret Service on whether or not they hired prostitutes or engaged in other misconduct the night before Obama arrived in this Colombian port city for meetings with 33 other regional leaders.
The Pentagon investigation is focusing on five Army Special Forces soldiers, two Marines, two Navy personnel and one member of the Air Force, a U.S. military official said.
Obama told a news conference Sunday in Cartagena that he would be angry if the allegations of misconduct were true because he expected representatives of the U.S. government to act with "the utmost in dignity and probity."
The Secret Service agents at the center of the allegations had stayed at Cartagena's five-star Hotel Caribe.
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.
Three waiters interviewed by the AP at the hotel described the agents as drinking heavily during their stay.
UPDATES: The 20 prostitutes supposedly involved in the Secret Service scandal were reportedly from the Pley Club, a gentleman's club located in the low-rent district of Cartagena, Colombia, where girls dance on stage, in a shower or in "pley rooms" where fantasies become reality. Other locations are reportedly under investigation, as well, and no specific location has yet been identified.
Anyone visiting the Hotel Caribe overnight was required to leave identification at the front desk and leave the premises of the hotel promptly at 7 a.m. However, when a woman failed to leave, the hotel staff notified the police. The woman, reportedly a dancer/prostitute from the Pley Club, told authorities that one of the Secret Service agents owed her $47 and still had not paid.
"There was a dispute the next morning when one of the women did not leave the room,"said Rep. Peter King, R-NY, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee.
"Police came and she refused to leave until she was paid for her services."That's how the incident ended up being reported to the U.S. Embassy.
And as the plot thickens, new reports reveal more details from a hotel worker, claims drugs were left in the room as well.
"When I went upstairs I walked into a messy room. The room was littered with two whiskey bottles - and a line of white powder, I believed to be cocaine, was on top of a round glass table in the room."As of right now three Secret Service agents — including two supervisors — are leaving the agency as investigators seek to determine whether the embarrassing episode led to a security breach.
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