They’re one of the government’s most professional and elite squads, known for being tightly buttoned up and meticulously vigilant. But loose lips are sinking the shiny reputation of the Secret Service. In recent days details of two more alleged incidents involving agents or U.S. servicemen picking up prostitutes in South America have arisen, both of which happened within the past year. A Brazilian reporter brought one incident to light during a press conference in Brasilia with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who is currently traveling around South America. The reporter highlighted a strikingly similar scandal that occurred in the Brazilian capital in December 2011. As the story goes, a prostitute was involved in a payment dispute with three Marines who were serving as a security detail for the U.S. Embassy. (LIST: Who’s Who in the Colombia Secret Service Prostitution Scandal) Romilda Aparecida Ferreira said she met the Marines at a strip club. After an evening of prodigious drinking, “we settled on a price and whose house we would go to,” Ferreira told Reuters. But once inside the Marines’ car, a fight broke out, and she was booted out of the vehicle, breaking her collarbone in the fall. According to Ferreira’s lawyers, the van also drove over her. The embassy was quick to make amends, tracking down the woman and paying her $2,000 medical bill. It also hustled the three Marines out of the country, firing one and reducing the other two in rank. Panetta was quick to explain that the U.S. had “no tolerance for that kind of conduct.” While the incident was handled swiftly and made few ripples at the time, in the wake of the Cartagena scandal Ferreira, who says she’s left the sex industry, is considering her legal options and may end up filing a criminal lawsuit against the Embassy, citing negligence. But the president’s security wasn’t on the line in the Brasilia incident, as it was in Cartagena — and perhaps also in a newly uncovered incident in El Salvador last year. One enterprising reporter from Seattle … Continue reading Two More South American Prostitution Scandals Emerge