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Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Guards Allege Problems With Court Security

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) - Three guards for Akal Security, which provides security at federal courthouses in 40 states, say their bosses marked them as "snitches" for reporting security breaches at the Federal Courthouse in San Francisco.

According to the Superior Court complaint, Akal was started in 1980 by Yogi Bhajan, an Indian civil servant who came to the U.S. in the 1960s and built an empire in New Mexico based on Sikh spirituality, yoga, political connections and government contracts. The complaint describes it as "the largest judicial security contractor in the United States."

The plaintiff guards say that coworkers drank alcohol and used prescription narcotics on the job, let a felon bypass the security checkpoint, and that Akal failed to address complaints that a supervisor had waved a gun at one plaintiff for reporting on-the-job sex between a coworker and a judge's clerk.

Instead, the supervisor allegedly told the guard, "Someone needs to wrap a bar of soap in a towel and have a party with you." Another guard who corroborated the story allegedly was told, "We have a rat and it's not the animal kind."

Plaintiffs Lydia Miller, Miguel De Luna and Wesley Hester Jr. seek damages for harassment, discrimination, retaliation and privacy invasion. They are represented by Bernadette Bantly with Bradley, Curley & Asiano.

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