Leumas Security Services has been safeguarding the Peninsula and the Division of Motor Vehicles area since 1996. Certified and licensed by the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services, the company’s trusted security professionals offer protection services for residential, corporate and professional settings. Its stellar reputation is upheld by its on-the-job excellence alongside its impressive list of clients, including political figures and celebrities as well as businesses and families.
“I come from a broken family, a broken home, and I witnessed a lot of domestic violence growing up. I didn’t get involved with the altercations, so I grew up wondering what could I do to help my mom,” says Samuel Griffin, III, owner and founder of Leumas Security Services.
“I really didn’t know what to do as a five-year-old child. I was always told as a child to respect your mother and father,” Griffin says. As he grew up, he was also inspired to rise above his circumstances by the 1992 film The Bodyguard. He remembers thinking: “One day, I’m gonna be Kevin Cosner and I’m going to protect people for a living.” His dream would soon become his reality.
In his teenage years, Griffin ran into the Rev. Al Sharpton in Colonial Williamsburg, who was there giving a speech. He introduced himself to Sharpton’s security guard, starting a friendship with him. When Griffin later learned that Jesse Jackson needed a bodyguard, he thought, “I’m going to believe in this dream; I have faith.”
Griffin traveled to Washington, D.C., where he met Jackson and interviewed with his existing security. In 1994, Griffin officially began working for Jesse Jackson as his personal bodyguard and personal assistant. After a few years, he decided he wanted to work for himself, opening Griffin’s Executive Protection Agency in 1996. The growth was quick, and in his mid-20s, his company was about 100 employees strong.
“Being young and dumb, I ran through my money, and then life happened,” he says. After a marriage, a divorce and a few years off, Griffin settled down with the love of his life, Imani Harris-Griffin, and started Leumas Security Services with her in 2011.
Griffin’s journey has taken the company’s home base from an apartment to City Center, where Leumas Security Services has operated for about five years. Another office in Richmond expands the company’s reach throughout the Commonwealth. “We run the Commonwealth of Virginia in terms of security,” says Griffin.
Now, the clientele of the firm ranges from businesses such as malls and hotels to homes and housing complexes. The company has worked alongside private investigations into murders, domestic violence cases and other local high-profile investigations.
In 2020, at the height of the pandemic, Griffin received a stage 4 colon cancer diagnosis. Not knowing he was sick, he was preparing to release his book at the same time: Rent-a-Cop Reboot, written for security professionals, by a security professional. He moved to New York City to undergo treatment at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Last June, he returned to Virginia, where he has been focused on his recovery while remaining in business.
“As a business owner, husband and father, this has been beyond a journey for me,” Griffin says. “If I did not love what I do, I would have given up on it a long time ago. Knowing what I went through as a child, growing up to live my dream has been priceless. In regard to defying the odds and having faith that you can do anything you set your mind to, I am a product of it.
“My wife and I, our hobby is work,” Griffin says with a laugh. “Mostly, we work 24/7, and we take time off for ourselves.” They enjoy spending time with their seven-year-old daughter, Bella, who Griffin says keeps them young.
TO THE POINT:
Leumas Security Services
Address: 11815 Fountain Way, Ste. 300, Newport News, VA 23606
Contact: Samuel Griffin, III
Email: contact@leumassecurity.com
Phone: 802-350-3490
Website: leumassecurity.com
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