FOXNews.com: Another City — Another Prostitution Scandal?

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Another City — Another Prostitution Scandal? Apr 26th 2012, 18:43 Responding to a rapidly evolving scandal, the Secret Service is looking into claims that its agents brought prostitutes back to their hotel rooms while in El Salvador ahead of President Obama's visit in March 2011.  The incident would have occurred more than a year before the alleged misconduct earlier this month in Colombia, which has brought international embarrassment to the agency and raised questions about how widespread the after-hours carousing is abroad.  Seattle channel KIRO-TV reported Thursday that, according to a government subcontractor who was there, agents and military personnel went to a San Salvador strip club where some of them paid for sexual favors in the VIP room. At least two agents, the source reportedly said, brought escorts back to their rooms.  Secret Service spokesman Edwin Donovan downplayed the latest allegations in a statement to Fox News.  "The recent investigation in Cartagena has generated several news stories that contain allegations by mostly unnamed sources," he said. "Any information brought to our attention that can be assessed as credible will be followed up on in an appropriate manner."  One agency official, though, told The Associated Press that the Service is investigating the latest reports in order to determine their credibility.  The El Salvador report is the latest blow to both the Secret Service and the military in the widening scandal.  Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, on a trip to South America, acknowledged that three Marines and an embassy employee were disciplined after allegedly hurting a prostitute in Brazil.  "They are no longer in this country, they were reduced in rank and they were severely punished for that behavior," he said.  A senior U.S. official told Fox News the U.S. Embassy paid for the prostitute's medical bills, though she is now suing the embassy.  The Washington Post also quoted several sources in an article earlier this week claiming that some of the agents implicated in the Colombia scandal are protesting their treatment by agency top brass -- because senior employees supposedly tolerated similar incidents in the past.  "It has happened before," one agent told the Post. "This is not the first time."  Though Donovan downplayed the anonymous sources in these articles, the KIRO-TV report on El Salvador claimed the owner of the strip club in the incident confirmed U.S. Secret Service agents visited his club -- allegedly for at least three consecutive nights.  The owner said he doesn't allow prostitution inside, though he couldn't speak for what happens outside the club. The owner also reportedly said officials from the FBI, DEA and U.S. embassy routinely visit his club.  The Secret Service and the military have moved to investigate and discipline the two dozen individuals implicated in the Colombia scandal.  Of the dozen agents on the Secret Service side, the agency has cleared three of serious misconduct. It has ousted eight agents and permanently revoked one agent's security clearance.

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