White House intruder pleads guilty to assault, illegal entry

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

White House intruder pleads guilty to assault, illegal entry

BY IAN SIMPSON
WASHINGTON Fri Mar 13, 2015 4:32pm EDT

(Reuters) - An Iraq War veteran pleaded guilty on Friday to charges of running into the White House armed with a knife before being tackled, a security breach that helped lead to a shake-up in the U.S. Secret Service.

Omar Gonzalez was charged with climbing over the White House fence on Sept. 19 and racing across the north lawn. He burst through the front door and reached as far as the executive mansion's East Room before Secret Service agents subdued him.

"Are you guilty?" U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer asked Gonzalez, who was dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit.

"Yes, yes, your honor," said Gonzalez, formerly of Copperas Cove, Texas. He gave his age as 43, though prosecutors had said he was 42.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/13/us-usa-whitehouse-security-plea-idUSKBN0M929Y20150313

[FargoGuy]

1. Hope he gets the medical treatment his family says he needs, on an out-patient basis too.

The Army says Gonzalez first enlisted from July 1997 to September 2003, then reenlisted in July 2005 and served until his retirement in late 2012, serving in Iraq from October 2006 to January 2008. He suffered at least one physical injury, a mangled foot due to an IED, and was honorably discharged.

But he also suffered psychologically, family and friends have said.

"It was his second tour and I noticed that he was doing a lot of things that were making me uncomfortable — I knew he would never harm me (but) I know whatever happened in Iraq, it affected him," Bell said.

“Looking back I wish there was something I could do to help him. He’s not a bad guy. He needs to get treatment,” she said.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/omar-gonzalez-who-white-house-fence-jumper-n209301