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Secret service supervisor put on leave after accusations of assault Secret service supervisor put on leave after accusations of assault
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The US secret service has put a senior supervisor on leave and suspended his security clearance after a female employee accused him of assaulting her after work at the agency’s headquarters last week, the Washington Post said on Wednesday. The US secret service has put a manager on administrative leave and suspended his security clearance, after a female employee accused him of assaulting her after-hours at the agency headquarters last week.
The District of Columbia police sex-crimes division and a US government inspector general are investigating the woman’s allegation that Xavier Morales of the security clearance division grabbed her on the night of 31 March after they came back from a party at a downtown Washington restaurant, the newspaper said, citing two law enforcement officials with knowledge of the investigation. Secret service director Joseph Clancy confirmed late on Wednesday that the high-ranking official had been placed on leave, after the Washington Post reported the incident.
Through an agency spokesman, Morales declined to comment, and he did not respond to requests for comment left on his phone, the Post said. “The secret service is an agency that demands that our employees conduct themselves with the highest level of integrity,” Clancy said in a statement. “These allegations as reported are very disturbing. Any threats or violence that endangers our employees in the workplace is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.”
The secret service confirmed in an email that an incident had been reported to agency investigators last Thursday and that a supervisor had been placed on administrative leave and the employee’s security clearance suspended. The statement did not name the individual or provide any further details. According to the initial report, the female employee told police and agency investigators that her supervisor, Xavier Morales, a manager in the security clearance division, made unwanted sexual advances after grabbed her after a party on 31 March. The woman alleged that Morales tried to kiss her and grabbed her arms, but relented after a brief struggle.
The case will be investigated by the Department of Homeland Security, the statement said. Secret service staff have come under fire over the last one month, after two senior agents were accused in early March of driving an agency car into the scene of an active bomb investigation without authorization. The White House and House of Representatives oversight committee are looking into that incident and whether the drivers were intoxicated.
“These allegations as reported are very disturbing. Any threats or violence that endangers our employees in the workplace is unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” secret service director Joseph Clancy said in the statement. Last year, the head of the secret service resigned after a year and a half on the job, amid major security breaches. In one, an armed intruder was able to jump the White House fence and make it to the front door before being tackled by an off-duty agent.
The agency that protects the president and his family has suffered a series of scandals in recent years. It was also revealed that a private security guard with a gun and a criminal history had not been screened and was able to board an elevator with Barack Obama in Atlanta.
It was criticized as being too insular by an independent panel appointed after a man with a knife scaled the White House fence and ran inside the mansion last year.
That incident prompted former director Julia Pierson to resign. She had been director for two years, named to the top job after agents were accused of hiring prostitutes during a 2012 trip to Colombia.