Washington: The Secret Service arrested a man who was trying to jump the White House fence carrying a suspicious package on Sunday.
Secret Service spokesman Tom Mazur said the man, 44-year-old Roger Witmer, was arrested before he made it over the fence.
Mazur said Witmer will be charged with unlawful entry, disorderly conduct and destruction of Government property.
"Evidently he had in his possession some type of plastic bag and that ended up on the South Lawn at the fence line," said Mazur.
He characterised the bag as a "suspicious package" and said the Secret Service was still investigating its contents.
Mazur said the incident happened shortly before noon on Sunday. President Bush, who had just wrapped up a late morning bike ride off-site, was on his way to the White House complex at the time.
The destruction charge stems from the fact that Witmer, who has no previous record with the Secret Service, damaged some of the fence as he tried to scale it. Witmer is from the Washington, DC, area.
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