San Diego Contractor To Pay Calif. State Fund $119,000

The owner of a San Diego area roofing company has been ordered to pay $119,000 in restitution to California’s State Compensation Insurance Fund as part of the sentencing in a workers’ compensation insurance fraud case. Arturo Cuevas, 43, owner of Cuevas Roofing & Painting Inc./Western Pacific Design & Development Inc., was also sentenced to three years probation after pleading guilty to insurance premium fraud.

Cuevas also pleaded guilty to one count of ‘willful failure to collect/pay unemployment taxes,’ and one count of ‘filing a false tax return.’ On these counts, Cuevas was ordered to pay restitution of $44,000 to the Employment Development Department (EDD) and $8,000 to the Franchise Tax Board (FTB).

After receiving a tip, the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office contacted State Fund. Cuevas’ workers’ compensation policy was reviewed and later the DA’s Office served him with a search warrant in order to review company files. Documents obtained from the search served as evidence. State Fund auditors later reviewed the documents and uncovered that Cuevas had paid thousands of dollars in cash to employees and did not report these wages to SCIF.

Cuevas had been insured with State Fund since October 1999.

State Fund’s Fraud Investigation Program (FIP) addresses all aspects of workers’ compensation insurance fraud, including employee, employer, medical and legal. In the last decade, State Fund’s FIP has produced hundreds of arrests and convictions in a wide range of workers’ compensation cases, including some considered milestones in California’s fight against fraud.

Source: SCIF