Intruder Enters White House With Marines

A tourist breached elaborate White House security on Inauguration Day by walking in with the Marine Band, then wandered into the Reagan family dining room where he was arrested, officials admitted today.

The man, Robert Latta, 45, of Denver, “followed the Marine Band coming in that morning and got to the hallway on the State Floor outside the Blue Room,” Secret Service spokesman Jack Smith said.

Latta, who was not armed, was charged with unlawful entry and then held for five days in the District of Columbia mental health center for psychiatric observation ordered by a judge, Smith said.

Reagan Informed

White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said Latta had reached the Family Dining Room, adjacent to the State Dining Room, and several doors down from the Blue Room. He said Reagan was informed of the intruder, but reporters were kept in the dark.

Smith denied a news report, which he said was based on a boast by Latta, that the man had reached the First Family’s living quarters one floor above and sat down in the President’s chair.

Normally, visitors and reporters who work in the White House daily, after walking or driving past concrete barriers, are subjected to searches of their belongings by uniformed Secret Service agents and must pass through a metal detector. They can be challenged if they are not wearing proper passes around their necks.

Latta came to the White House for a tour and was told there were none available on Jan. 20, Inauguration Day, then moved down the street and worked his way inside the band, though he was not in uniform or carrying an instrument.

Smith said the Marines were wearing overcoats against the bitterly cold weather.

He said when Latta was apprehended “he wasn’t acting as a normal person would.”