VERY SUSPICIOUS: Secret Service Agent’s Laptop Stolen

 

FILE PHOTO: The Trump Tower logo is pictured in New York, U.S., May 23, 2016. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File Photo

 

VERY SUSPICIOUS: Secret Service Agent’s Laptop Stolen

Laptop holding Trump Tower floor plans, Hillary Clinton email investigation info stolen from Secret Service agent

nydailynews.com

Authorities are frantically searching for a Secret Service-issued laptop — containing floor plans for Trump Tower, information about the Hillary Clinton email investigation and other national security information — that was stolen from an agent’s car in Brooklyn, police sources told the Daily News Friday.

The computer was lifted Thursday morning and officials are trying to determine if Agent Marie Argentieri was targeted or if the robbery was random.

NYPD cops are assisting in the investigation, sources said.

“It’s a very big deal,” a police source said. “There’s data on there that’s highly sensitive. They’re scrambling like mad.”

Sources and neighbors said the thief stepped out of a dark-colored sedan, possibly an Uber, and darted into Argentieri’s Bath Beach driveway about 3 a.m.

He grabbed the computer, a backpack, and other goods and walked away, sources said.

NYC PAPERS OUT. Social media use restricted to low res file max 184 x 128 pixels and 72 dpi

Trump Tower on 5th Avenue in New York City.

(JAMES KEIVOM/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)

The crook, dressed in black, didn’t get back in the car he arrived in. He was seen on surveillance video strolling away from the brick home wearing a backpack and holding a laptop, sources said.

Neighbor Mike Mignuolo, 73, believes, based on the video police showed him, that the suspect moved quickly and with a purpose.

“It showed somebody running to the car and running back out,” he said. “They knew what they were doing, absolutely. They knew what they were hitting.”

Other items stolen include “sensitive” documents, an access keycard, coins, a black zippered bag with the Secret Service insignia on it and lapel pins from various assignments — including ones involving President Trump, the Clinton campaign, the United Nations General Assembly and the Pope’s visit to New York, sources said.

An agency-issued radio was also taken, according to Politico.

The coins and bag were later found.

A Secret Service “employee was the victim of a criminal act in which our agency-issued laptop computer was stolen,” spokesman Shawn Holtzclaw said in a statement.

The information on the laptop cannot be remotely erased, sources said.

The agency said the device doesn’t contain classified information but could be used to access a server that does.

“Secret Service-issued laptops contain multiple layers of security, including full disk encryption and are not permitted to contain classified information,” Holtzclaw said. “An investigation is ongoing, and the Secret Service is withholding additional comment until the facts are gathered.”

0

The laptop contained info regarding the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.

(BRIAN SNYDER/REUTERS)

Argentieri could not be reached for comment.

The agent told investigators the laptop contained floor plans for Trump Tower, evacuation protocols and information regarding the investigation of Clinton’s private email server, according to sources.

While nothing about the White House or foreign leaders is stored on the laptop, the information could compromise national security, she said.

After walking away, the suspect turned onto Cropsey Ave. and dumped the backpack in the snow outside a private home. Residents there had no comment.

A teacher from Poly Prep Country Day School, in neighboring Bay Ridge, found another bag containing papers on her front porch and she turned them over to school security.

The Secret Service agent's vehicle was parked in the driveway of her Bath Beach, Brooklyn, home, when the laptop was stolen.

The Secret Service agent’s vehicle was parked in the driveway of her Bath Beach, Brooklyn, home, when the laptop was stolen.

(� KEVIN LAMARQUE / REUTERS/REUTERS)

Poly Prep’s head of security, a retired NYPD cop, determined they were Secret Service and notified Argentieri Friday morning, sources said.

“If anyone has information that can assist in the investigation of this incident they are encouraged to contact the NYPD or the US Secret Service Field Office,” the NYPD said in a statement.

The laptop theft is the latest in a series of embarrassments for the Secret Service.

Last week, an intruder jumped the White House fence and wasn’t caught for 16 minutes, and a pair of agents are reportedly under investigation for taking pictures with Trump’s sleeping grandson.

___
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/laptop-trump-tower-floor-plans-stolen-secret-service-article-1.3001078