White House

White House Fence Jumper Snagged by Her Own Shoelaces

Two other people recently tried to enter White House grounds

The U.S. Secret Service says a woman who tried to climb over the White House fence was found dangling from it by her shoelaces. 

The agency said in a statement that Uniformed Division Officers saw the woman late Tuesday walking around the White House. Agents say she tried to climb over the fence adjacent to E Street. 

The woman's shoelaces got entangled at the top of the fence and she was suspended inside the fence, authorities said.

The agency said officers helped the woman down and arrested her. 

Court records showed that 38-year-old Marci Wahl of Everett, Washington, was charged with unlawful entry. At a hearing in D.C. Superior Court on Wednesday, Wahl pleaded not guilty and was released pending a hearing next month.

The shoelace incident follows two other recent cases of people trying to gain entry to the White House grounds. 

Press Secretary Sean Spicer said on Twitter Saturday that an individual was apprehended after jumping a low metal barrier just outside the White House fence.

One week earlier, a man breached a 5-foot outer perimeter fence and scaled an 8-foot vehicle gate to gain entry to the White House grounds. 

Video surveillance footage showed Jonathan Tuan Tran, 26, of Milpitas, California, climbing the fence near the Treasury Department adjacent to the White House security fence and making his way to a south entrance, a criminal complaint said. Tran, who the Secret Service said was carrying two cans of Mace, was charged with entering restricted grounds while carrying a dangerous weapon and faces up to 10 years in prison. 

Trump was inside the executive mansion at the time. He praised the Secret Service for doing a "fantastic job" apprehending a "troubled person." 

Similar lapses occurred during the eight years that Barack Obama was president. In September 2014, an Army veteran with mental health issues scaled a fence on the Pennsylvania Avenue side of the White House and made it deep inside the building, to the East Room, before the Secret Service could detain him. The Obamas were not at home at the time. 

That incident was one of several breakdowns by the Secret Service that ultimately led to the resignation of the agency's director, Julia Pierson, the following month.

Trump has to find someone new to lead the agency. Joseph Clancy, a former agent who came out of retirement to succeed Pierson, announced his second retirement last month.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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