A Maryland man who jumped over a White House fence and was subdued after kicking two guard dogs on the north Lawn in October on Thursday was sentenced to time served and a year of supervised release, the Justice Department said.
Dominic Adesanya, 23, reportedly has mental health problems. He shouted he was a “targeted individual” and needed help at a court hearing in March.
Adesanya, formerly of Bel Air, Maryland, on April 17 pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds, and he has already served about six months in jail.
On Thursday a judge ordered him to submit to a follow-up interview with the Secret Service and to stay away from facilities under the Secret Service’s protection, including the White House.
Adesanya climbed a fence to enter the North Lawn at 7:16 p.m. on Oct. 22, and he was tackled and apprehended by security officers about 20 yards past the fence. Adesanya's father told The Associated Press his son has been having mental health problems for a year, but refused help.
The unauthorized entry to the lawn occurred a little more than a month after another man, Omar Gonzalez, breached the grounds and made it all the way inside the White House, in an incident that drew sharp criticism of security procedures and led to the resignation of Secret Service Director Julia Pierson.
Gonzalez was sentenced to nearly 1 1/2 years in prison in June. Spikes were added to the fence that surrounds the White House grounds this week in a bid to deter intruders.
