A man who claimed to have a cell phone implanted in his head was convicted Friday of jumping a White House fence in a bid to meet Chelsea Clinton.
Shawn A. Cox, 29, of Mammoth Spring, Ark., was immediately sentenced to 150 days in jail. A District of Columbia Superior Court judge suspended the sentence — with the stipulation that Cox stay at least one block away from the executive mansion. He also was fined $50.
Cox was arrested Dec. 4 after he scaled the spiked wrought-iron fence on the north side of the White House. The incident occurred after he had three separate encounters with uniformed Secret Service officers on bicycle patrol. He told them he planned to meet former President Clinton’s daughter at a church near the White House.
“He was very upset that we were not taking him seriously,” Officer Kimberly Wojcik testified during a non-jury trial. Wojcik said she and other officers repeatedly told Cox that Chelsea Clinton no longer lived in the White House.
“If you do not have an appointment, you cannot get into the White House,” said Officer James Livingston, who told the court he first saw a shoeless Cox near the White House on Dec. 2.
In rambling testimony under questioning from his court-appointed lawyer, Cox said, “They put a cell phone in my head.”
He went on to tell the court, “George Bush told me to jump the fence, and I jumped the fence.” He later said the Secret Service officers told him to jump.
The defense unsuccessfully moved for acquittal. and Judge John H. Bayly Jr., also rejected a prosecution request for a stay away order covering the U.S. Capitol and the Senate office buildings. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander Dahl said Cox had tried to contact Chelsea Clinton through Sen. Hillary Clinton’s staff.
Cox underwent a psychiatric evaluation before being certified competent to stand trial.