Former state inspector Jose Guillen faces federal charges, accused of lying about groping women business owners
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A former State of Illinois inspector, who was fired after he was caught on camera groping the owner of a doggy daycare center, has been arrested on federal charges.
CBS 2 Investigator Megan Hickey was the first to report last year that former Illinois Department of Agriculture inspector Jose Guillen was caught on camera, groping Leah Bindig during an inspection at Aeslin Pup Hub, her doggy daycare, boarding, and grooming business.
Since we broke the story, several other women business owners came forward with similar complaints of sexual abuse during their inspections.
Guillen, 41, of Melrose Park, was arrested Wednesday morning, after he was indicted on four counts of depravation of civil rights and one count of obstruction of justice. He's accused of lying in a civil deposition in a federal lawsuit that one of his victims filed against him.
According to the charges, during a deposition in that lawsuit, Guillen lied when he denied groping, hugging, or otherwise intentionally touching five different women without their consent while performing inspections of their businesses between 2019 and 2021.
In one woman's case, Guillen is accused of lying about grabbing a woman's buttocks during an inspection of her business.
According to the charges, Guillen claimed it was an accident, and that he was simply trying to keep his balance.
"I have two left feet so obviously I, I'm a little clumsy, so, yes," he said in a deposition. "I was keeping my balance to make sure I didn't fall."
Federal prosecutors said Guillen knew he'd touched the woman's buttocks on purpose, and he had grabbed and groped his victims "for purposes of his own sexual gratification."
If convicted, Guillen faces up to 20 years in prison for the single count of obstruction of justice, and up to one year in prison for each count of deprivation of civil rights.
During his first court appearance Wednesday afternoon, he was released on $10,000 bond, after pleading not guilty.
His attorney said Guillen is starting a new job with a different state agency -- the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES). The judge ruled IDES be notified about the charges against him.
The charges do not name any of Guillen's victims, but Bindig and several other women previously came forward to CBS 2 with accusations that Guillen groped them during inspections.
Bindig's first encounter was a surprise inspection in 2018. But what should have taken just a few minutes took much, much longer - because Bindig says Guillen started getting personal during their inspection.
She said he asked if she "was single," and whether she might be free to meet up.
"I knew that like there was a line being crossed, but I was repeatedly reminded by him that he was the only inspector," Bindig said.
And before she got the "pass," he asked for a hug.
"One of those hugs that all women know are very uncalled for and inappropriate," Bindig said. "I didn't know what to do, so I just like let it happen and be over."
If this story sounds unbelievable, it suddenly became more believable in 2019 - when Guillen came for his next annual inspection. This time, their encounter was, by chance, captured on the store's surveillance cameras.
"I have a laptop and I was showing him, you know, turning the laptop to show him the vaccination records for certain dogs, and he felt that he needed to see them on the other side of the counter," Bindig said.
Surveillance video shows Guillen inching closer, until they were touching.
"Then he starts putting his hand on my shoulder, on my arm, on my back," Bindig said. "I'm being inspected. I'm not being - we're not on a date."
Video shows that Bindig started backing into the corner, pressed up against the water cooler.
"I was literally told we have everything we needed, showed him where we had it posted that people should have vaccination on file and stuff like that. And it should have been done. Why was it another 40 to 50 minutes that he stayed here?" Bindig said. "He asked to see a photo of me in a bikini. ... You know like, do I have to show you that in order to 'pass' and run my business that I've worked so hard for?"
And then Bindig said Guillen requested another hug. At one point, the video shows his hand moving from her arm to her rear end.
"Why does a state inspector have their hands on me?" Bindig said. "He's holding the clipboard as he's hugging me, and he's not signed off yet that we passed - and I'm like: 'So what do I do? What do I do? Tell him to stop?'"
Bindig filed a federal lawsuit against Guillen and the Illinois Department of Agriculture in June 2021, but it's unclear if that's the case in which Guillen is charged with lying during a deposition. At least one other woman has sued Guillen in federal court.
Guillen has previously claimed Bindig gave him "nonverbal consent," but the CBS 2 Investigators found proof that he should have known better.
It's spelled out in black and white that his actions caught on camera, and described by multiple female victims, violated the Illinois Human Rights Act.
Guillen claimed in a deposition that he had "nonverbal consent" to touch doggy daycare owner Leah Bindig — because she was "smiling" at him. He also claimed she "made the first move" - even though the raw surveillance video shows otherwise.
"Nonverbal consent, it doesn't exist with everybody - just in this instance," Guillen said in the deposition.
After our story about what happened with Bindig aired, Guillen was fired. And within hours, several other women came forward with similar accounts of groping and inappropriate comments made during their inspections.
Nearly a dozen female business owners came forward to the CBS 2 Investigators with nearly identical stories of sexual harassment.
"I thought he was going to shake my hand - he put his arm out to shake my hand - and he pulled me, he hugged me, and the next thing I knew, there was a hand on my butt," said Bonnie Bloom, owner of Lucky Dog Pet Service.
The similarities in the women's stories were striking, cringeworthy, and incomprehensible - because they're not talking about being a bad date. All of their businesses were being inspected by the Illinois Department of Agriculture when they went through these experiences.
"Why is he noticing me? This is a government employee. And in my head I started going, oh my God, did he touch me?" said Magda Szymczyk of the Gypsy Cats NFP Inc. Feline Sanctuary.
About 70 cats and kittens across the Chicagoland area depend on Szymczyk at her feline sanctuary.
"Once you see that first little face looking at you, it's hard to look away for the rest," she said.
Her cat sanctuary relies on grant funds, which require a yearly inspection from the state's Agriculture Department. The only inspector working Cook County for that department until last month was Guillen.
Bloom relies on the same inspections at her Northwest Side doggy daycare. She said Guillen was "the only game in town," and she got to know him.
So does animal rescue owner "Kate.
"I knew it was wrong, but he had all the power," said "Kate," an animal rescue owner and retired Chicago Police officer. "He controlled whether or not I got the license."
Bindig said the moment they all met at the police station was incredibly emotional.
"We didn't know that there was like other women that it had happened to, and part of me, like, regrets that I didn't come forward sooner - because of the fact that if I had, some women that had happened to afterwards," she said.
After Bindig came forward with her case, the Cook County State's Attorney's office had earlier declined to press felony charges against Guillen, and declined comment on why.
They were looking at a charge of official misconduct, because the alleged encounters all happened while Guillen was on the clock getting paid by Illinois taxpayers.
But six months later, these victims were told the Cook County State's Attorney's office was "declining to pursue charges."
When Hickey asked why, she was simply told, "No comment."
We also reached out to IDES about Guillen and his position there on Wednesday. We had yet to hear back late Wednesday night.
