When the Secret Service hooker scandal in Colombia broke into the national news this month, one of those who was not the least bit surprised was KIRO-TV's lead investigative reporter, Chris Halsne.

A year ago, Halsne was in Central America -- exposing conditions at a Boeing jet repair facility in El Salvador. President Obama visited El Salvador just a few weeks prior to Halsne's arrival in March of 2011 to meet with El Salvador’s president, Mauricio Funes.

While in San Salvador, Halsne met a government subcontractor who was hired by a U.S. Secret Service "advance team" to aid Secret Service agents and military escorts during their security sweeps of Mr. Obama's upcoming, planned travel routes within the city. The work-detail included placement of snipers and explosives detection.   

The source rather offhandedly told Halsne how about a dozen Secret Service agents called him in the middle of the night (just two or three days before Obama arrived) and asked that he help arrange transportation for them to a local strip club for a night of partying, heavy drinking and sex with prostitutes. The source told Halsne he did so and escorted the agents to the club, although he says he warned them it was not a "safe idea."

Halsne asked the source if he had video from his phone or billing records which showed his involvement with the Secret Service advance team for the President’s trip, and if the source would take him to the unnamed strip club so he could talk with employees there to confirm the story. Once he realized Halsne was seriously pursuing a news story, the source declined to help any further, saying he didn’t want to be involved.

The source refused to be quoted, interviewed or used "on the record" as a witness to the alleged events of misbehavior that occurred both at the strip club and afterwards at two hotels where the Secret Service was staying leading up to President Obama’s visit.  The source said he not only feared losing future business from U.S. government contracts, but felt the Salvadoran government might be upset with his revealing such embarrassing details while they were trying to build trust with the Obama administration.

This conversation occurred just a day before Halsne was set to return to Seattle with his investigative television story about how a jet repair center in El Salvador was paying some mechanics $2 an hour to fix passenger jets used by major U.S. airlines.

Halsne shared the information about the Secret Service with his news director and followed up with the source several times to see if he'd change his mind. Without further information or on-the-record statements, Halsne and KIRO-TV felt the story did not meet the organization's journalistic standards.

Following this week's international coverage of Secret Service agents reportedly getting caught with prostitutes at a Cartagena, Colombia, hotel, Halsne called the source in El Salvador again. He agreed to go on the record with what he witnessed and to provide some documents which proved he would be in a position to have direct knowledge of U.S. Secret Service activities in El Salvador prior to President Obama's visit in March of 2011.