Guard-Service Chief Is Indicted in Probe

The owner of a company that guards federal buildings, including the U.S. embassy that was bombed in Kenya in 1998, was indicted Tuesday on a charge of filing false financial statements with Bank of America.

The indictment charges that William J. Guidice told the bank that his United International Investigative Services Inc. made a $3.2-million profit and had $7.5 million in retained earnings during 1996 when the amounts were “substantially less.” As a result of his claim, the bank raised the Anaheim company’s credit line by $5.5 million, federal prosecutors said.

Guidice, 48, of Yorba Linda is expected to be arraigned in June on a single count of making false statements to a federally insured bank, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Lawrence S. Middleton. No date was set for the court appearance.

Middleton said Guidice continued to draw on his credit with the bank but never used the additional $5.5 million.

Through his lawyer, Guidice denied wrongdoing, noting that the bank continued to lend to him after the alleged disparities came to light. Guidice has never missed a payment to the bank, so his sentencing if convicted would be probation to six months in prison, said his attorney, Nathan J. Hochman of Beverly Hills.

“Mr. Guidice intends to vigorously contest the charge and looks forward to his day in court,” Hochman said.

Guidice served two tours as a Marine Corps machine gunner in Vietnam in the 1970s. His company provides security at embassies in France, Panama, the Bahamas and Kenya, where former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright commended his guards for their conduct on Aug. 7, 1998, when terrorists bombed the embassy in Nairobi.

Hochman said Guidice sought a larger line of credit, in part, because he had insisted on increasing security at the embassy before the bombing.