Panetta: U.S. Marines Punished over Brazil Prostitute
Three U.S. Marines and a State Department employee were punished over their involvement with a Brazilian prostitute in December, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Tuesday.
The admission came as officials were still reeling from the fallout of a prostitution scandal implicating Secret Service agents and military personnel working on a visit to Colombia by President Barack Obama.
"Those who have been involved are no longer in this country and were severely punished," Panetta told the Brazilian news media. "That kind of behavior is not acceptable."
He referred to an incident involving three U.S. Marines and an embassy staff member in Brasilia, a U.S. official said.
The men allegedly brought a prostitute into their car but later threw her out of the vehicle in a dispute over payment, the source said.
The U.S. Embassy paid the woman's medical expenses after "she broke her collar bone" falling from the car, the source said.
The Americans "were pulled out of the country immediately" and subjected to disciplinary action, the official said.
After disclosures that Secret Service agents hired prostitutes in Colombia at the Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, the Brazilian "woman hired a local attorney and attempted to sue the embassy," the U.S. official said.
He did not mention the status of the lawsuit.
In Cartagena, the scandal erupted when a group of Secret Service agents allegedly hired prostitutes on the eve of Obama's arrival at the Summit of the Americas 10 days ago.
Panetta said the accused Secret Service agents had their security credentials suspended until the investigation is concluded.
Two more of the agents have resigned over the Colombia sex scandal and one more will have his security clearance permanently revoked, the Secret Service announced Tuesday.
Six Secret Service agents already had lost their jobs over the scandal involving prostitutes, whom they allegedly invited back to their hotel in Cartagena as they prepared for Obama's visit.
Source: Agence France Presse
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