US Secret Service accused of multiple prostitution incidents

US Secret Service agents have been accused of multiple incidents involving prostitutes, improper use of weapons and drunken behaviour over the past eight years, it emerged yesterday.

Dania Londono Suarez was at the center of the Colombian incident

Documents released by the US government under the freedom of information act disclosed that the agency's prostitution scandal in Colombia earlier this year followed a string of related accusations.

The documents disclose that an on-duty officer was arrested in a Washington prostitution sting in 2008. The officer, who was driving a marked Secret Service vehicle at the time, was eventually fired.

Meanwhile an employee was reported to his bosses in Washington after being arrested for soliciting in a park in 2005, and an anonymous tipster in 2003 reported that an agent "may have been involved with a prostitution ring" and that his name had turned up in an FBI investigation.

One employee was even accused of attempted sexual assault in a hotel during a trip in August last year, according to the 229-page dossier. The incident was later closed with an "administrative disposition".

The disclosures came in documents released to The Associated Press. They will reinforce fears among Republican congressmen that April's Colombian incident revealed a culture of misconduct.

Agents were found to have paid for prostitutes and embarked on alcohol-fuelled festivities while preparing for the arrival of President Barack Obama, whom they protect, for a summit in Cartanega.

Testifying to Congress after the incident, Mark Sullivan, the agency's director, said it was "not representative" of the "high ethical standards we demand from our almost 7,000 employees."

"The Secret Service has five core values: justice, duty, courage, honesty, and loyalty," said Mr Sullivan at the time.

A dozen employees of the agency, including officers, agents and supervisors, were implicated in the scandal Eight employees have so far lost their jobs. Spokesmen for the agency declined to comment.