Secret Service arrests man with rifle in car near White House

The Secret Service arrested a man near the White House after discovering a weapon and ammunition inside his vehicle.

CNN reports the man is R.J. Capheim of Davenport, Iowa. The 41-year-old was arrested by uniformed Secret Service officers after he approached the officer and said he drove to Washington D.C. from Iowa on someone's orders. Capheim approached the officer at the 15th Street Entrance to the White House, adjacent to the East Wing.

That someone has not yet been identified, and the revelation of that information struck the officer as odd, according to CNN. Sensing that something was off, the officer asked Capheim where he was parked and if he could search Capheim's vehicle.

CNN says the vehicle was parked less than a half mile from the White House. Inside the vehicle, the officer found a .30 caliber hunting rifle and an undisclosed amount of ammunition.

Capheim was arrested on the charge of being in possession of an unregistered firearm and additional charges may yet be brought against Capheim, according to CNN.

The New York Times reports that Capheim's vehicle was a 2013 Volkswagen Passat and the incident took place at 12:54 p.m.

The arrest comes after a barrage of bad press surrounding the Secret Service, and serious questions about its ability to effectively protect the president.

The questions about the Secret Service's efficacy began to surface after it was revealed that a man who climbed over the fence of the White House actually made it inside the White House.

Following that incident, reports began to surface that at one time an armed security guard was in an elevator with President Obama, but the Secret Service was not aware that the guard was armed.

These disclosures forced the previous head of the Secret Service, Julia Pierson, to resign. Pierson has been replaced by Joseph Clancy, a 27-year veteran of the Secret Service.

The professionalism of the Secret Service was previously called into question in 2012, when it was revealed that agents had cavorted with prostitutes while the president was on a trip to Colombia.