White House fence jumper pleads guilty

The man who jumped the White House fence and entered the mansion with a knife pleaded guilty on two federal charges Friday and faces 18 months in prison.

Army veteran Omar Gonzalez, 43, pleaded guilty to one count of unlawfully entering a restricted building or grounds while carrying a deadly or dangerous weapon and one count of assaulting, resisting or impeding a Secret Service officer, the Associated Press reported

{mosads}Federal sentencing guidelines recommend between 12 and 18 months in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 8.

The Sept. 19 incident sparked a firestorm as other serious security breaches became public and led to the resignation of then-Secret Service Director Julia Pierson on Oct. 1. Current Director Joseph Clancy succeeded her.

The breach prompted an overhaul in Secret Service training and hiring programs after a review completed on December 18.

A separate Department of Homeland Security review released on Nov. 13 found that Gonzalez snuck past a Secret Service agent on his personal cell phone during the incident. The officer was in a van with an attack dog and did not observe the intruder.

At Friday’s hearing it was revealed that he also managed to sneak through several bushes before entering the executive mansion as officers shouted at him to stop.

Investigators discovered a machete, two hatchets and hundreds of rounds of ammunition in Gonzalez’s car once he was in custody. He also had a folding knife in his pants pocket with a blade over three and a half inches long.

President Obama, the first lady and their daughters, Malia and Sasha, were not present during the intrusion.

Gonzalez’s plea on Friday also ends a legal fight over his competency to stand trial. Psychiatrists ruled the Army veteran was fit for court after an evaluation concluded on December 11.

Questions arose over Gonzalez’s competency following the breach.

After his arrest, he told a Secret Service agent he “was concerned the atmosphere was collapsing and needed to get that information to the president of the United States so that he could get the word out to the people.”