By Julia Edwards
WASHINGTON, April 10 (Reuters) - A U.S. Secret Service officer was arrested by police in Washington on Friday for allegedly trying to break into the home of a woman while carrying a handgun, according to a police report.
The officer, Arthur Baldwin, was charged with destruction of property and burglary, said D.C. Metropolitan Police Department spokeswoman Gwendolyn Crump.
Baldwin, 28, damaged the windows and back door of a 23-year-old woman's apartment in Southeast Washington while off duty shortly after midnight, the police report said.
The Washington Post reported that Baldwin's ex-girlfriend lived in the apartment.
Baldwin was carrying a 357 caliber handgun, according to the police report.
The arrest is the latest embarrassment for the agency that protects the president and his family.
It was criticized as being too insular by an independent panel appointed after a man with a knife scaled the White House fence and ran inside the mansion last year.
Secret Service Director Joseph Clancy has ordered that Baldwin's security clearance be suspended and that he be placed on administrative leave, the statement said.
Baldwin, formerly a uniformed officer assigned to the Secret Service's Foreign Missions Branch, is being investigated by the agency's office of professional responsibility. (Reporting by Julia Edwards; Editing by Emily Stephenson, Sandra Maler, Christian Plumb and Ken Wills)
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