Imagine this: You’re gearing up for a busy Saturday at your salon, only to find out the U.S. Secret Service has taken over your space without so much as a knock on the door. That’s exactly what happened to Alicia Powers, a salon owner in Massachusetts, who recently experienced an unexpected visit from the Secret Service ahead of a fundraiser for Vice President Kamala Harris.
Alicia knew she needed to close her salon for the day due to security concerns, but what she didn’t expect was for agents to take matters into their own hands—literally. They picked the lock to her building, covered her security cameras with duct tape, and allowed various people to use her bathroom for over two hours.
“It felt chaotic,” Alicia shared with Business Insider. “My team and I decided to close for Saturday because it was getting out of hand.”
Surveillance footage even captured one agent standing on a chair to cover her security camera with tape. And if that wasn’t enough, after the impromptu bathroom break, the agents left her building unlocked and forgot to remove the tape from the camera.
Alicia wasn’t informed about this surprise visit. In fact, she only learned later that an EMS worker mentioned the Secret Service agent in charge was inviting people in to use the bathroom. While the Secret Service admitted the camera-taping incident, they claimed the agents “would not” have used the building without permission. But Alicia’s experience tells a different story.
“If they had just asked, I probably would’ve welcomed them with coffee and donuts,” Alicia said. “But they didn’t even bother to ask—they just helped themselves.”
Alicia’s landlord, Brian Smith, echoed her frustration, stating that neither he, his father, nor the eccentric tenant upstairs gave the Secret Service permission to enter the building. After Business Insider reached out, the Secret Service’s Boston field office called Alicia to apologize, admitting that “everything that was done was very wrong.”
For a situation that could have been handled with a simple request, this incident turned into an uninvited takeover, leaving Alicia with a story she never expected to tell.
