Julio DeGuzman is well-known in San Diego for his community service in a variety of organizations, including his current position as San Diego and Imperial County Lions Club District Governor leading 49 clubs and 1,300 .
However, not as well-known is that before retirement DeGuzman served our country as a special agent where his undercover work in the U.S and abroad resulted in successful criminal prosecutions and earned him national recognition.
Born in 1950 in the Philippines, DeGuzman came to America with his parents at age 4 and was raised in San Diego. He learned to value public service from his father, who served in the U.S. Navy and his grandfather, a police officer.
He wanted to follow in their footsteps after graduating San Diego State in 1973 with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. But he was barred from ing the police because he did not meet the minimum height requirement of 5 feet 8 inches.
While working as a county probation officer in 1979, DeGuzman attended a job fair in downtown San Diego and visited a booth for Naval Investigative Service (now called Naval Criminal Investigative Service or “NCIS”).
“They gave me a brochure with photos of guys in suits wearing guns and badges,” he recalled. “I said I wanted to do that.”
There was no minimum height requirement.
After two years of background checks that included interviewing his friends, neighbors and family , DeGuzman became only the second Filipino-American NCIS special agent. He was assigned to work undercover out of the U.S. embassy in Manila.
While undercover in the Philippines, he searched for criminals including Soviet Union spies and American fugitives. And he found other criminals by purchasing undercover illegal drugs and stolen U.S. aircraft parts.
“I was shy in high school,” DeGuzman said. “But, NCIS trained me. They had a retired Mossad [Israeli intelligence] teach about 20 of us interrogation techniques and how to get confessions. I learned to just go up and talk with people and steer the conversation. It was a 180-degree turnaround from high school.”
DeGuzman faced danger in some of his assignments as when he would buy drugs while wired and without a gun.
In 1986, he was assigned to determine whether the Philippines president had left the country during student riots. “I was approaching the palace behind the students just watching and talking to people when marines began shooting. I almost came out of my shoes while running,” DeGuzman recalled.
That year, he was transferred to San Diego to investigate bribery, kickbacks and fraud crimes against the Navy. In one of his undercover operations, DeGuzman worked with the FBI to infiltrate the so-called “Filippino mafia” whose were accepting bribes in exchange for lucrative government contracts. “We had cameras running in our office while we were paying cash,” he said. “They all confessed after shown the video.”
In 1994, DeGuzman was promoted to Department of Defense special agent assigned to investigate medical fraud. Among his most notable cases involved breaking up a fraud conspiracy that involved doctors and purported patients who submitted phony invoices to the Navy. There were 21 successful prosecutions and almost half million dollars recovered in criminal restitution.
For his work, DeGuzman won second-place nationally for Department of Defense special agent of the year. “The first-place agent recovered a million dollars in a civil case,” DeGuzman said.
Today, DeGuzman and his wife of 27 years, Lisa, live in La Jolla. They have three adult children and one grandson.
He enjoys watching reruns of the crime show NCIS and, of course, his community service.
As Lions Club District Governor, DeGuzman has led programs to help veterans, homeless and other communities.
“Helping people is important to me,” he said.
“I get satisfaction today from community service as I did as an agent serving our nation. It’s just not as dangerous.”
Deguzman may have been too short to become a police officer, but his career as special agent and now his community service have shown someone whose courage, determination and heart are larger than life.
About this series
Goldsmith is a Union-Tribune contributing columnist.
We welcome reader suggestions of people who have done something extraordinary or otherwise educational, inspiring or interesting and who have not received much previous media. Please send suggestions to Jan Goldsmith at [email protected]
