MARTHA’S VINEYARD, Mass. — Long before Secret Service agents were found partying with prostitutes in Colombia, members of the elite team earned an “Animal House” reputation at the blueblood vacation mecca of Martha’s Vineyard.
Local residents say wild parties, fights and late-night carousing involving Secret Service members have become commonplace in recent years at the Vineyard, a favorite getaway for the First Family.
Trashed rental homes, bad behavior and barroom brawls that have required the local police to step in have some disgusted Martha’s Vineyard homeowners vowing never to rent out to the Secret Service again.
One resident called police in the early morning on Aug. 18, 2011, about a party that went on until well past 4:00 a.m. on the day President Obama arrived for a nine-day vacation.
According to a police report obtained by FOXNews.com, a local cop who arrived on the scene was told the partiers were working the presidential vacation.
In response to FOXNews.com’s request for comment, Secret Service spokesman Max Milien said the agency “has not received any complaints or information regarding alleged misconduct of its personnel operating in Martha’s Vineyard during the summer of 2011. Any information brought to our attention that can be assessed as credible will be followed up on in an appropriate manner.”
But at least one Vineyard homeowner says that is not true.
She said her husband called the Secret Service in Washington last year to complain about the rowdy behavior of agents and damage they caused to their home, but his gripe was dismissed by officials who told her “that’s what they do on vacation” — even though the agents were on assignment at the Vineyard.
The owner of a six-bedroom home rented out for the past two summers to Secret Service agents said the men told him details of presidential security plans.
“They left ammo behind, they told me things they shouldn’t have been telling me, things they shouldn’t be telling anyone about the details about how they protect the president,” said the man.
A woman who spent time with a group of agents last summer said detailed information about the protection plans for the president was on all of their cellphones.
Glen Caldwell, the general manager of Offshore Ale in Oak Bluffs, told FOXNews.com about an incident last summer when one of his staff found a Secret Service badge on the floor after the bar had closed at the end of the night. The commission book also included a list of emergency phone numbers.
“You didn’t call any of those numbers did you?” the agent nervously asked when he arrived to claim the badge.
Others on the island say Secret Service agents should be allowed to party, as long as they keep the First Family safe.
“Boys will be boys,” said Peter Martell, owner of the Wesley hotel in Oak Bluffs, which has hosted Secret Service agents since 1993.
“They work their butts off, these guys, and they do a hell of a job. If they want to have a little fun here, what’s the harm?” Martell said.
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