Blasting News reported Friday on the theft of a backpack from a Secret Service agent's car, parked in the driveway of her Bronx home. At that stage all we knew was that the backpack contained a laptop, with details relating to the security plan for Trump Tower, along with various lapel assignment pins and other items. Politico reports there was also an agency-issued radio stolen from the car. At that stage, the backpack had been found, but there was no sign of the agent's laptop.

Now more details are being revealed. Reportedly, authorities are searching frantically for the laptop and that other national security related information on the computer, besides the Trump Tower security plan.

It turns out the laptop also contained data related to the recent Hillary Clinton email scandal, and other highly-sensitive information. According to Politico, a source told them there was also a Secret Service-issue radio, reportedly used during secure closed-circuit communications.

The Secret Service is reportedly still trying to establish if the agent, Marie Argentieri, was deliberately targeted for the sensitive information, or if this was just a random theft. As reported by the New York Daily News, sources at the NYPD had said the agency was “scrambling like mad,” in an attempt to hunt the laptop down, due to the highly sensitive nature of the data stored on it.

Witnesses saw the thief rob the Secret Service Agent’s car

According to neighbors around Argentieri’s area, the thief was seen climbing out of a dark-colored car – which they said might have been an Uber – at around 3 a.m. The man, reportedly dressed in black, then ran into Argentieri’s driveway and grabbed the backpack, computer and other items from the car, then walked away from the home.

Apparently he didn’t return to the car in which he arrived at the scene. Sources said the thief was also caught on surveillance video and could be seen strolling away from the home, with the backpack on his back and holding the agent’s laptop.

Neighbor says the thief knew he was hitting a Secret Service agent

According to Mike Mignuolo, 73, the suspect was seen to be moving quickly and with a definite purpose.

When reviewing the surveillance video, Mignuolo said it showed a person running to the agent’s car and then running back out, adding that the thief knew exactly what he was doing and who he was hitting.

According to a Secret Service spokesman, Shawn Holtzclaw, their agent was a victim of a criminal act, involving the theft of an agency-issued laptop computer. Holtzclaw told the media the computer did not contain sensitive information. However, he added that it could be used to gain access to a server that did. The spokesman stressed that laptops issued by the agency have several layers of security, which includes full disk encryption, stressing agents are not allowed to store classified information on their computers. He did say the investigation is still ongoing and they are continuing to withhold any more information until they have gathered all the facts.
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