Fraud of the Week

August 26, 2019

Roofer Fraud — California

Amount: $1 million

A California roofer has been found guilty of underreporting payroll and failing to pay workers' compensation premiums and has been sentenced to 365 days in jail and ordered to pay over $1 million in restitution to the State Compensation Insurance Fund. The roofer owned a roofing and painting business, which required him to hire and maintain a crew of employees. Between 2012 and 2016 the roofer submitted payroll statements to the State Compensation Insurance Fund which indicated that he did not have any employees, which allowed him to pay only a fraction of the workers' compensation premiums that he owed. An employee of the roofing company suffered and reported a traumatic injury in 2016, which alerted the insurer that the roofer had failed to report his true payroll. The roofer was also placed on six years of formal probation, and along with the $25,000 he has already paid toward restitution will continue to make monthly restitution payments.