Secret Service take White House fence jumper into custody
An individual who scaled the fence onto White House grounds late Friday night has been taken into custody by U.S. Secret Service, according to a department spokesperson.
Just minutes before midnight Friday, "an individual threw a backpack over the north fence of the White House grounds," Kevin Dye, a USSS spokesman, said in a statement Saturday. "The individual then jumped the fence and was immediately taken into custody by Secret Service Uniformed Division Officers without incident."
Secret Service charged the individual with unlawful entry and later transported him to Washington D.C.'s Metropolitan Police Department.
The White House complex underwent standard security sweeps, according to the USSS, with "negative results." Normal operations resumed soon afterwards.
The April Fools' Day incident is only the latest in a string of fence-jumping episodes.
Last Thanksgiving, a college student draped in an American flag hopped the fence and triggered a White House lockdown, while President Obama was celebrating the holiday with his family inside.
Earlier that year, Secret Service had installed metal spikes atop the fence surrounding the White House grounds in an effort to prevent future security breaches.