ATLANTA — A security guard fired after President Obama’s trip to Atlanta said Monday that he lost his job because he snapped a picture of the presidential motorcade to send to his mother and is humiliated by news reports wrongly claiming he’s a convicted felon.

Kenneth Tate, 49, worked as a guard for Professional Security Corp., a security contractor at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. As part of his job duties, he carried a concealed .40-caliber handgun issued to him daily by his employer.

He rode in an elevator with Obama during the president’s Sept. 16 visit to the CDC, though the Secret Service was apparently unaware that Tate was armed. That incident was publicly revealed after a man scaled the White House fence and entered the building. Those security breaches and other embarrassments led to the Oct. 1 resignation of Secret Service Director Julia Pierson.

Tate said the affair cost him his livelihood and his reputation.

“This is a nightmare. My whole life (has) been changed upside down,” Tate said. “I’m trying to figure out which way to go. How do you go anywhere when it seems like the door has been closed on you? Your reputation (has) been tarnished. The embarrassment.”

The Washington Post initially reported that Tate had been convicted of crimes, but subsequently corrected the claim. The Associated Press has found no evidence of a conviction against Tate.