(WISH) — U.S. Rep. Victoria Spartz has been charged with a weapons violation at Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C.

A spokesperson for Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority confirmed to I-Team 8 that Spartz was charged Friday. The spokesperson says Spartz received a summons to appear in a court in Virginia.

A spokesperson for the Transportation Security Administration told I-Team 8, “On Friday, June 28, TSA officers at IAD (the three-letter code for Dulles) detected a .380 caliber firearm during passenger security screening. The firearm was unloaded and in the individual’s carry-on bag.”

Her office issued a statement last Monday afternoon.

“Last Friday, Rep. Spartz accidentally carried an empty handgun in her suitcase with no magazine or bullets, which she did not realize was in the pocket of her suitcase, while going through security at Dulles airport. Rep. Spartz was issued a citation and proceeded on her international flight to the OSCE PA meeting in Europe.”

OSCE PA is the acronym for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly.

Additional details were not immediately available.

The 45-year-old from Noblesville serves the Indiana’s 5th Congressional District. The district includes Hamilton County and other counties north and northeast of Indianapolis.

She is seeking re-election in November’s election. She fended off eight rivals in the May Republican primary just months after she decided to run for reelection in a campaign that focused attention on her opposition to sending aid to her native Ukraine. She is the first and only Ukrainian-born member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Spartz wasn’t the only Hoosier caught with weapons in security checkpoints at Washington airports on Friday.

TSA issued a news release Monday about catching an Indiana man with a loaded .22 caliber handgun and a switchblade among his carry-on items at Ronald Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia. Dalton Patrick Raffert, 23, of Mitchell, Indiana, was issued a citation, the Washington Metropolitan Airports Authority tells I-Team 8.

The TSA release notes, “Guns are not permitted through the security checkpoint and the traveler faces a stiff financial civil penalty from TSA. The penalty for carrying weapons can reach a maximum of $15,000.”

Unloaded firearms locked into hard-sided containers can be put into checked luggage on airplanes in the United States, but they must be declared at the airline ticket counter upon arrival, TSA says on its website. Weapons and ammunition cannot be in carry-on bags.

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Statement

“As a member of Congress, Victoria Spartz should be well aware of the fact that you can’t carry a gun – loaded or unloaded – past airport security. Despite this, she carried a weapon in her carry on bag in violation of federal law.

“It’s clear from her time in Congress that Spartz doesn’t like following rules. The House Ethics Committee opened an investigation into her treatment of staff just last month, and claimed the government was attacking children during the riots at the Capitol on January 6th. Hoosiers simply deserve better than the constant embarrassment coming from Rep. Spartz’s lack of leadership. It’s time to retire her this November.”

Dayna Colbert, executive director, Indiana Democratic Party