Man charged with jumping White House fence; it’s not his first time

The man accused of jumping the White House fence Wednesday evening and being stopped by a K-9 unit was charged Thursday with two misdemeanors, and he also faces charges alleging he tried to break into the White House complex and the Treasury in July.

Dominic Adesanya, 23, of Bel Air, Md., was charged Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia with unlawfully entering the White House grounds and harming law enforcement dogs.

In court documents filed Thursday, a Secret Service agent said Adesanya had climbed a fence and run toward the north doors of the White House, ignoring agents’ orders to stop. The Secret Service then released two dogs, Special Agent John Grimsley said in an affidavit.
“One dog, Jordan, confronted Adesanya, who kicked the dog,” Grimsley said. “The other dog, Hurricane, knocked Adesanya down. Adesanya got up and threw the dog to the ground. Adesanya also repeatedly struck the dog with a closed fist.”

Adesanya was handcuffed “moments later” and told agents he would keep returning until he saw President Obama, Grimsley said.

Thursday’s two charges each carry a maximum of a year in prison, according to the U.S. attorney’s office for the District of Columbia.

Meanwhile, Adesanya is facing two other cases in D.C. Superior Court.

The first case alleges he jumped over a security barrier at the White House on July 27. According to a police statement in that case, Adesanya said he was there “because he was being targeted due to his race by the Rothchild family who owned the Federal Reserve bank” and “wanted the cameras that were placed in his home removed.”

A July 29 mental evaluation found that he was “currently incompetent to participate in court proceeding,” court documents say, and he was released from custody.

The second case deals with what happened the next day.

On July 30, that case alleges, Adesanya entered or tried to enter the Treasury Department grounds and assaulted, resisted or interfered with three police officers.

He was released from custody the next day and was scheduled to appear in court Sept. 9, but he failed to show up, according to court documents. A warrant was issued for his arrest, and he was taken into custody Wednesday after the second fence-jumping incident.

Now, Adesanya is to be held pending a Monday hearing, and the judge ordered a mental screening, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

His next court appearance is scheduled for Friday morning.

The Secret Service dogs, Hurricane and Jordan, were taken to a veterinarian Wednesday night and treated for minor bruising, a Secret Service spokeswoman told The Times. Both have been cleared to return to duty.

This week’s incident comes a month after an Iraq war veteran carrying a pocketknife jumped the fence and ran across the North Lawn, through an unlocked White House door and into multiple rooms before being caught.

Omar Gonzalez, 42, was arrested after that security breach. He faces six counts, including two federal charges of assaulting officers. This week, a preliminary evaluation found him “presently not competent” to stand trial.

The Sept. 19 breach was part of a string of embarrassing incidents for the Secret Service that led to the resignation of the agency’s director, Julia A. Pierson.

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