P. M. Briefing : Transit Casualty Boss Denies False 1984 Statement Charge

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The former head of Los Angeles-based Transit Casualty Co., a high-risk insurer that left up to $4 billion in unpaid claims when it crumbled in 1985, has pleaded innocent to a charge of filing a false financial statement.

George Pettengill Bowie, 64, Transit’s former chairman and chief executive officer, entered the plea Thursday in Circuit Court after his indictment by a Cole County grand jury, county prosecutor Richard Callahan said today.

The charge stems from the company’s 1984 financial statement, which indicated a $21.9-million surplus when in fact Transit’s records were “incomplete, inaccurate, inauditable and in such a state that it was impossible to construct an accurate financial statement,” the indictment said.

Filing a false annual statement is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison. No trial date has been set for Bowie, who is free on a $250,000 signature bond.