Calif. State Fund To Recieve $35,000 in Restitution

An employee of a Chatsworth, Calif., construction company has been ordered to pay $35,263 in restitution to the California State Compensation Insurance Fund in a workers’ compensation insurance fraud case. Alejandro Ruiz Lopez, a carpenter at T.R. Wurster Construction Co., was also sentenced to 180 days in prison and 36 months of probation after pleading no contest to one count of felony workers’ compensation insurance fraud.

Lopez resided in Panorama City at the time of his injury.

The fraud was discovered by Lopez’s employer who notified State Fund after being told by another employee that Lopez had injured himself playing soccer. Lopez claimed that he had fractured his tibia while employed as a carpenter at work. After receiving the information from T.R. Wurster Construction, State Fund investigated the claim and subsequently turned over its suspected fraud case to the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office.

Lopez’s employer, T.R. Wurster Construction Co., has been insured by State Fund since 2001.

State Fund’s Fraud Investigation Program (FIP) addresses all aspects of workers’ compensation insurance fraud, including employee, employer, medical and legal.

Source: SCIF