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Secret Service broke into business ahead of Harris rally, apologized, salon owner reports

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Secret Service broke into business ahead of Harris rally, apologized, salon owner reports

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A Massachusetts salon owner said she felt “violated” after the U.S. Secret Service allegedly entered her business without permission during an event for Vice President Kamala Harris, according to multiple reports.

Alicia Powers, owner of Four One Three Salon in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, told Business Insider she decided to close her business on July 27, when Harris was scheduled for an in-person fundraiser at the nearby Colonial Theater.

But her security footage obtained by Spectrum News 1 Worcester shows a person dressed like a Secret Service officer taping over the lens of a security camera positioned outside the building. Powers said the footage from inside the shows several officials in various uniforms coming in while the alarms blared to use the bathroom.

“There were several people in and out for about an hour-and-a-half — just using my bathroom, the alarms going off, using my counter, with no permission,” Powers told Business Insider.

A representative for the US Secret Service told USA TODAY in a statement Tuesday it had been in touch with Powers. The statement did not confirm the agency was responsible, saying personnel “would not” enter a business without permission. The reported misstep comes after the agency has been under heightened scrutiny following an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, and the director resigned.

More: Secret Service will rethink ‘unified command post’ that doesn’t have all parties

Security footage shows safety officials in salon with alarms ringing

Video shared with Business Insider shows a woman in a dark suit and white button up shirt, resembling a Secret Service officer’s attire, walking up to the salon and looking in the cameras and doors, before pulling a chair over to stand on it and apparently tape over the camera.

Footage from inside shows two people in emergency medical services uniforms and one person wearing a law enforcement uniform inside the salon.

Powers said she came back later that day to tape still over the camera and the door unlocked. She told Spectrum News Worcester she felt “violated, disrespected,” and “just totally blown away that there wasn’t permission granted or even asked to go into the bathroom.”

She also said representatives from the Secret Service have since reached out to apologize, both outlets reported.

“The U.S. Secret Service works closely with our partners in the business community to carry out our protective and investigative mission,” USSS spokesperson Melissa McKenzie said to USA TODAY Tuesday in an emailed statement. “The Secret Service has since communicated with the affected business owner. We hold these relationships in the highest regard and our personnel would not enter, or instruct our partners to enter, a business without the owner’s permission.”

USA TODAY reached out to Powers for comment.

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