To quote someone else on an AA pilot's board, "I'll be mad as heck if they were racially profiled."
Secret Service agents suspended
3 sent from Games after allegations of threat, sexual assault
By Mike Brunker MSNBC
SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 15 — Three U.S. Secret Service agents have been suspended from duty after one or more of them reportedly threatened a hotel manager and sexually assaulted a woman during a rowdy party at a Provo motel a week before the opening of the Olympics. THE AGENTS, who were not identified, were immediately sent back to their offices in Mississippi, Alabama and Florida and then placed on administrative leave pending full investigation of the charges, Secret Service spokesman Jim Mackin said Friday. All three are cooperating with police, Mackin said. Mackin and Michael Mower, a spokesman for the city of Provo, confirmed that the agents had been suspended and that a criminal investigation was under way, but both declined to detail the allegations against the trio. But the Salt Lake City Tribune reported Friday that one of the agents allegedly put a gun to the head of the hotel manager and threatened to kill him when the man arrived to investigate complaints that a noisy party was disturbing other guests. Four days later, a woman who attended the party alleged that one or more of the agents sexually assaulted her, the newspaper reported without identifying the source of the information. It also said the woman had given differing accounts of the incident to detectives. The Deseret News of Salt Lake City, quoting a source close to the investigation, reported that the incident may have involved underage girls to whom the agents supplied liquor. The manager of the hotel where the incident allegedly occurred, Casey Clement, was on vacation and could not be reached for comment early Friday. Desk clerk Jerry Chang told MSNBC.com that Clement had told him that he had been threatened by one or more Secret Service agents when he went to check on the party but did not say anything about having a gun put to his head. Provo police were expected to wrap up their investigation by next week and forward evidence to the Utah County attorney’s office, which will decide what, if any, charges will be filed. If the agents are charged, they also could face administrative discipline, said Mackin, the Secret Service spokesman. “The Secret Service has zero tolerance for improper behavior,” he said. “We are, however, waiting for all the facts to be determined.” Approximately 2,000 Secret Service agents are in the Salt Lake City region as part of the massive security force assembled to safeguard the Winter Olympics. The Secret Service, which concentrated on VIP protection during previous Olympics, took over as the lead federal agency in providing security for the Games as a result of a 1998 order signed by former President Bill Clinton, declaring them a “national special security event.” The FBI had served in that capacity during previous Olympics.