A Maryland resident with a lengthy criminal history was arrested outside of the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday after causing a bomb scare.
The U.S. Secret Service told JNS that the suspect allegedly threw a backpack over the fence of the diplomatic compound in the northwest part of the District of Columbia, prompting a response from the U.S. Secret Service and Metropolitan Police Department’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal Team.
The MPD confirmed to JNS using a variant spelling that the suspect is Rasheed Adedokun, 35. Recent Maryland court records say that he is a resident of Bladensburg, Md.
The bomb disposal unit eventually declared the scene safe. Adedokun was arrested for unlawful entry and processed at the nearby Metropolitan Police District. It’s not clear if he remains in custody.
Adedokun has a long history of arrests though no apparent previous connection to Israel, the Middle East or the American Jewish community.
In 2016, he was sentenced to 54 months in prison for identity theft and credit-card fraud in excess of $100,000. In 2022, he was arraigned in Virginia for violating his parole. Later that year, he was arrested in Canada after forcing the emergency landing of a flight from Iceland for his “unruly actions,” according to the Royal Canadian Mounted police, who charged him with endangering the safety or security of an aircraft and its passengers.
Last month, prosecutors filed a case against him in Maryland court after the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority arrested him for trespassing and disorderly conduct.
At press time, WMATA had not responded to JNS’s request for comment about that arrest.
