Secret Service agents relieved in Colombia amid prostitution allegations

artagena, Colombia (CNN) -- A group of Secret
Service agents and officers sent to Colombia ahead of President Barack
Obama were relieved of duty and returned home amid allegations of
misconduct that involved prostitution, according to two U.S. government
sources familiar the investigation.
The 11 Secret Service
members -- both agents and uniformed officers -- were interviewed
Saturday at the agency's Washington headquarters, after which they were
placed on administrative leave, Assistant Director Paul Morrissey said
in a statement.

They are under
investigation after preliminary findings revealed that they brought back
several prostitutes to the Hotel Caribe in Cartagena, sources told CNN
on Saturday.

Also Saturday, the U.S.
military announced that five service members assigned to support the
Secret Service in its assignment have been "confined to quarters" in
Colombia after they violated curfew and "may have been involved in
inappropriate conduct" at the same hotel. The statement, from U.S.
Southern Command, did not offer more details, including whether
prostitution was involved.

The command's leader,
Gen. Douglas Fraser, said he is "disappointed by the entire incident and
that this behavior is not in keeping with the professional standards
expected of members of the United States military," according to the
statement.

The alleged misconduct
overshadowed the start of the sixth Summit of the Americas, where the
president was to focus on trade, energy and regional security.

None of the agents or
officers being investigated was part of the president's personal
protective detail and Obama isn't based at the hotel. But dignitaries
and journalists reporting on the hemispheric meeting were staying there,
a U.S. government official said.

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Rep. Peter King, chairman
of the House Homeland Security Committee, was briefed on the matter and
told CNN that the government personnel brought prostitutes back to
their rooms Wednesday night and "one of the women did not leave the room
in the morning."

A hotel manager tried to get in the room, and eventually the woman emerged and said "they owed her money," according to King.Similarly,
U.S. government sources said there was a dispute between at least one
Secret Service member and a woman brought back to his hotel over a
request to be paid.

At least one of the
women brought to the hotel talked with police, and complaints were filed
with the U.S. Embassy, the sources said.

"The Secret Service saw that report, and they immediately began an investigation," King said.

A hotel staffer gave
Colombian security personnel the entire list of U.S. government
personnel staying there, said a U.S. military official who couldn't
speak for attribution because of the ongoing investigation.

A spokesman for Colombia's National Police declined to comment, referring questions to the Secret Service.

King, the Republican from New York, said the issue isn't about any "criminal allegations but a dereliction of duty."

"My understanding is
that there are no allegations of any crime being committed," he told
CNN's Don Lemon. "It violates the Secret Service code of conduct."

Secret Service spokesman
Edwin Donovon said that the group of agents in Cartegena were relieved
of duty Thursday -- prior to the president's arrival in Colombia -- and
replaced after "allegations of misconduct."

The U.S. government
sources said that, because the trip already had a large security detail,
only some of the recalled agents and officers were replaced. Still, the
sources said there was no threat to the president.

Morrissey, the assistant
director from the Secret Service, noted his agency's "zero tolerance
policy on personal misconduct." He said that putting the accused
employees on leave is "standard procedure" as the agency conducts a
"full, thorough and fair investigation."

"This incident is not
reflective of the behavior of our personnel as they travel every day
throughout the country and the world performing their duties in a
dedicated, professional manner," Morrissey said. "We regret any
distraction from the Summit of the Americas this situation has caused."

The U.S. military is
conducting its own investigation and will mete out "punishment, if
appropriate ... in accordance with established policies and the Uniform
Code of Military Justice," the Southern Command said in its statement.

A senior military
official and senior Secret Service official decided the five U.S.
service members would stay in Colombia, confined to their hotel except
for work-related business, because their "special skills" were still
needed, according to a U.S. military official. Barred from contacting
others about the matter, they will return to the United States with the
rest of their unidentified unit at the end of the mission, according to
the military.

Ronald Kessler, a former
Washington Post reporter who has written a book about the Secret
Service, called the incident "clearly the biggest scandal in Secret
Service history."

The Washington Post, which was the first to report the story, said it was alerted to the investigation by Kessler.

Jon Adler -- president
of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, which represents
Secret Service agents and other federal law enforcement officers --
urged caution in jumping to conclusions, characterizing the incident as
"isolated" and not necessarily a scandal.

"That's just sort of an
overdramatic interpretation of an isolated incident," he said. "We have
to trust the process of the internal review."

While soliciting
prostitution is legal in certain areas of Colombia, it is considered a
breach of the agency's conduct code, the government sources said.
High-level officials in the Secret Service and the Department of
Homeland Security were outraged over the incident, the sources said,
noting that the investigation indicated the prostitutes were brought
back to a hotel that had been secured for the summit.

The president arrived in
Cartagena on Friday, the same day he first learned about the incident,
White House press secretary Jay Carney said from the coastal resort
city. Obama will spend more time in Colombia, where security concerns
had limited previous presidential trips, than any other U.S. president.

Two nearly back-to-back
explosions in Cartagena -- which caused only minor damage and no
casualties, Colombia National Police spokesman Cantihho Toncell said --
were a reminder of the violence that has gripped Colombia as its
government has battled powerful drug cartels. Violence has significantly
fallen off in recent years as the Bogota-based government, aided by
U.S. extradition efforts, has successfully picked apart the cartels.

Still, there is an
extensive security presence in the walled colonial city of Cartagena for
the summit -- including more than 7,600 police officers and thousands
more troops.