White House contractor was flagged by Secret Service weeks after arrest warrant was issued

WASHINGTON - A White House contractor arrested on a fugitive warrant for an attempted murder charge that was issued in Maryland appeared before a judge at D.C. Superior Court Wednesday.

Martese Edwards, who was still wearing his gray business suit he was arrested in, waived his extradition hearing and is expected to be transferred to Prince George's County by the end of the week to face his charges, officials said.

The Secret Service arrested the 30-year-old Suitland man Tuesday afternoon at the Northwest visitor checkpoint of the White House complex as he was reporting for work.

The federal law enforcement agency said they only became aware of the warrant for Edwards on Monday on a national fugitive database. However, authorities in Prince George's County said the warrant for Edwards' arrest on attempted first-degree murder and assault charges was issued on May 17. Edwards is accused of shooting his ex-girlfriend's boyfriend on May 3.

However, the Prince George's County Sheriff's Office modified the warrant on Monday and that is when Edwards apparently popped up in the database. But the sheriff's office would not comment on what the modification of the warrant was.

"They did that update and from what we understood from what was released by the Secret Service, they became aware of the warrant on June 4th, but the warrant was put into the system on May 17. So that is something I want to be very clear about," said Prince George's County State's Attorney's Office spokesperson John Erzen.

There were 19 days between when the warrant was issued and Edwards' arrest. The Secret Service released a statement Wednesday night saying:

It is understood that the Prince George's County Sheriff's Office (PGCSO) entered limited information pertaining to the active arrest warrant for Edwards into a national database on May 17, 2018.

The Secret Service did not receive notification of the warrant entry from the Criminal Justice Information System on May 17, 2018. Nor was the Secret Service contacted by any law enforcement organization regarding the subject.

Edwards did not come to the attention of the Secret Service at the time of warrant entry; due to the fact the original entry lacked a Universal Control Number or other personal identifiable information which would trigger an "alert" to the Secret Service from the Criminal Justice Information System.

On June 4, 2018, the PGCSO entered additional identifiable information, including a Universal Control Number pertaining to Edwards into the same national database.

As a result of that PGCSO update on June 4, 2018, the Secret Service was notified by the Criminal Justice Information System that Edwards was the subject of a warrant issued out of Prince George's County, MD. The warrant was verified, and Edwards was promptly arrested on June 5, 2018 by Secret Service Uniformed Division Officers at a checkpoint outside of the White House complex.