Company exposed by 9 Investigates fined by the state

ORLANDO, Fla. — The State Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has placed a fine against an unlicensed security company that somehow was able to get a contract and work for more than a month at both Orlando International Airport and the Orlando-Sanford International Airport.

9 Investigates reporter Karla Ray first exposed GuardNow in early January, after employees showed us checks that bounced right before Christmas.

The company was subcontracted by a company called GCA, which was hired by Hertz/Dollar/Thrifty to provide security at airport rental lot locations across Florida, despite not having a license to perform security services in Florida.

A just-released state investigation shows the California-based company was exposed for breaking the law by operating here after another security company emailed inspectors to complain.

GuardNow promised in contracts to provide “trained, uniformed and supervised security officers,” but during inspections, some licensed employees “indicated they were aware of other employees” with no licenses.

“This is happening in Orlando International Airport. That’s not right,” former employee Cat Rajnauth said.

The state ordered the company’s CEO to cease operations “due to the fact that many of these sites are either on or in close proximity to major airports, running 24 hours a day, seven days a week, posing a potential threat to the public.”

Employees said that’s when the company skipped town without distributing paychecks.

“That was December 5, showed up to work, the company's gone. It's a whole new security team, they're looking at us like we're stupid,” Rajnauth said.

Those employees have filed fraud complaints and hired an attorney. No one from GuardNow’s administrative offices has returned our phone calls.

Cox Media Group