A man whom authorities said jumped a fence securing the White House grounds on Tuesday was trying to escape after he robbed or sexually assaulted four people in the heart of downtown Washington, according to a D.C. police report.

Instead of escaping, the man was quickly caught as he crawled along a fence-line ditch, called a "moat," at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building farmacia24encasa, adjacent to the White House, one of the most secure buildings in the world.