NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — An unoccupied vehicle with Maryland plates was broken into and a bag with a laptop and other items belonging to a Secret Service agent was stolen, sources told CBS2.
The break-in happened outside of the agent’s home in Bath Beach, Brooklyn, sources said.
The laptop contains various sensitive information including Trump Tower floor plans and evacuation protocol as well as information pertaining to Hillary Clinton’s campaign email investigation, sources told CBS2.
There is not believed to be any sensitive information related to the White House on the laptop, sources told CBS2.
Other sensitive documents that were in the car were also taken, but it’s unclear what those documents are, sources told CBS2. The information on the laptop cannot be remotely erased, sources said.
“The U.S. Secret Service can confirm that an employee was the victim of a criminal act in which our Agency issued laptop computer was stolen,” the agency said in a statement Friday. “Secret Service issued laptops contain multiple layers of security including full disk encryption and are not permitted to contain classified information. An investigation is ongoing and the Secret Service is withholding additional comment until the facts are gathered.”
It is unclear if the theft was random of if the agent was targeted.
Surveillance video possibly from the street shows a white man wearing dark clothing exit the back passenger side of what may be a Chevy Malibu after pulling up to the secret service agent’s street.
The car then pulls up to victim’s house and stops with its hazard lights on. He then exits from the back passenger side, sources said. Video does not show the actual break-in.
The same individual is later seen carrying the agent’s bag walking on Bay 10th Street and Cropsey Ave, sources said. Besides the laptop, “lapel assignment pins” which included Trump, Clinton Campaign, UNGA and Pope pins were in the bag, sources said.
The NYPD recovered the bag — a black zippered bag with secret service insignia on it — at 1533 Cropsey Avenue, sources said. Video from the area of this address shows the suspect throwing the bag onto snow in front of that location and walks past it.
Inside the recovered bag was a collection of coins and other items but no laptop, sources told CBS2. The recovered items are being tested in a lab.
The laptop has not been recovered. The stolen laptop is considered a compromise of national security, CBS News reported.
The Secret Service is charged with the protection of the president and having information related to his security as well as other sensitive data stolen is no small matter. Fortunately, this purloined laptop is useless to the thief due to it’s reported built-in security. Still, another unwanted embarrassment for this protective agency whose past episodes of White House fence jumpers and late-night carousing have stained it’s public image. “Until we meet again and the case is sol-ved” — Inspector Clouseau, The Pink Panther