WASHINGTON -- An Annapolis man was sent to a hospital here early yesterday for psychiatric tests after he was picked up near the White House and claimed -- falsely -- that his car was carrying a bomb.
The Secret Service identified the man as Joseph Maggio, 36, who was described as "disoriented, rambling and wanted to know where he was." He had shown "no interest" in the White House or in President Clinton, Agent Jaime Cagigas said.
"It just happened around the White House, but it could have been three or four blocks away, or in front of your house or mine," according to Agent Cagigas, deputy assistant public affairs director for the agency.
The spokesman said officials draw a distinction between incidents like this one, believed to be happenstance only, and those in which someone seems to have picked out the White House for an act of aggression.
Despite heightened security around the president's mansion in recent weeks because of three incidents regarded as threatening, the Secret Service has seen no indication that a "copycat" trend has set in, Agent Cagigas said.
Cynthia Maggio, Mr. Maggio's sister-in-law, said doctors at Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital diagnosed her brother-in-law in July as suffering from bipolar disorder, a chemical imbalance in the brain that causes mood disorders, depression and delusional thoughts. Mr. Maggio was being treated with antidepressants, his sister-in-law said.
Mrs. Maggio said that her brother-in-law was released after a month in the hospital, but that he became sick again a few weeks later.
He returned to the hospital for three days before being released, and he went to live with friends in the Annapolis area, she said.
"He was seeing a psychiatrist and taking his medication and doing well," she said. "He came to see me on Thanksgiving and I thought he was fine."
In the incident yesterday, which began about 4 a.m., according to the U.S. Park Police, a Secret Service uniformed officer approached Mr. Maggio as he was standing near his car. The car was parked on the street that runs along the south edge of the fenced White House lawn.
As the officer walked toward Mr. Maggio, Park Police said, he fled on foot, running to the grounds of the Washington Monument, where he was detained.
Finding him to be "delusional," Agent Cagigas said, the officers told him they would take him back to his car. He reportedly said to be careful because the car contained a bomb. The Park Police report said Mr. Maggio claimed it was a plutonium bomb.
Mr. Maggio, who was not charged with any crime, was sent to D.C. General Hospital to be evaluated, according to Agent Cagigas.