New charges for White House intruder
The Justice Department is bringing new charges against the accused White House intruder, whose alleged security breach put the Secret Service under scrutiny and led to the resignation of its director.
An additional indictment adds more charges against Omar Gonzalez for allegedly assaulting, resisting or impeding officers, and for violating a D.C. law on carrying certain types of ammunition.
{mosads}Those are on top of previous charges that included illegally entering a restricted building with a weapon.
If convicted, Gonzalez faces a maximum of 33 years in prison.
Gonzalez is accused of scaling the White House fence and running through the front door of the building and into the East Room with a knife, before an off-duty Secret Service agent caught him.
He is due in court on Tuesday, Oct. 21 for a status hearing. Earlier this month, Gonzalez pleaded not guilty.
The incident sparked a firestorm of criticism against the Secret Service, as details of other security missteps became public.
A report by The Washington Post also revealed that Gonzalez had made it much farther into the White House than Secret Service officials had initially suggested.
Another story detailed how agency leadership failed to realize for days that a gunman in 2011 had fired shots that hit the White House.
Julia Pierson, then-director of the Secret Service, resigned, after she testified in front of Congress about the agency’s handling of the Gonzalez incident. Pierson, the first female head of the Secret Service, was not director during the shooting in 2011.
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