A Secret Service agent on Vice President Mike Pence's detail who was charged with soliciting a prostitute told police he went to a Maryland hotel to have sex with a woman, but decided not to have sex with her because she looked "nasty," according to court records.
Law enforcement sources told News4 the agent is 40-year-old Quincy Thomas Torregano of Germantown, Maryland.
Torregano went to the Red Roof Inn on Shady Grove Road in Rockville on March 30 after responding to an ad on Backpage.com, an online classified ads service that has been accused of making child sex trafficking easier, according to court documents.
An employee at the hotel called the authorities with concerns that someone was using one of the rooms for prostitution, court documents said.
Montgomery County Police Department detectives set up surveillance in the hotel parking lot and noticed a man drive up in a Jeep Cherokee and walk up to the room. The man then came out of the room and drove away a short time later, according to the documents.
A detective followed the Jeep to the parking lot of a nearby sporting goods store and stopped the driver, who was identified as Torregano, court documents said.
Torregano allegedly admitted to the detective that he went to the hotel to have sex with a woman. Once inside the hotel room, he said he set $100 on the table, but decided not to have sex with her, documents said.
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"Torregano stated that the female looked 'nasty' and he became scared that she may have some sort of disease or STD so he decided not to have sex with her," read the court documents.
The Secret Service agent was arrested and charged with solicitation. Police also arrested the 22-year-old woman and charged her with three counts of prostitution. She identified Torregano through a photo and said he had sex with her, according to documents.
On Wednesday, the Secret Service told NBC News that it suspended an employee following news reports that an agent on Vice President Pence's detail was charged with soliciting a prostitute. A Secret Service spokesperson would say only that the employee, who was off duty at the time, was placed on administrative leave and stripped of his security clearance and access to Secret Service facilities pending "disciplinary actions."
News4 tried reaching Torregano at his home, but no one responded. News4 has also reached out to Torregano's attorney, but did not receive an immediate response.
