Sacramento businessman arrested for workers’ comp fraud

SACRAMENTO
May 20, 2010 12:01am

A Sacramento businessman has been charged in connection with alleged workers' compensation insurance fraud.

Juan Arteaga Enriquez, 38, is charged with three felony counts including misrepresenting fact to obtain insurance at less than proper rate, making false statements to discourage workers' compensation claim, concealing or failing to disclose an event affecting insurance benefit, says state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner.

"Lying to your insurance company in order to get a lower rate is illegal and drives up costs for everyone in the system," says Mr. Poizner. "Even worse is pressuring your employees to lie about their injuries just so you can save some money. Crimes like these are dangerous for workers and will not be tolerated in California."

Mr. Poizner says his department got a complaint from a former employee of Juan's Roofing regarding an injury he had suffered while employed there. The former employee reported that he had suffered a broken elbow after falling off of a roof in Elk Grove and was taken by Mr. Enriquez to the Woodland Healthcare Hospital for treatment which required surgery. The former employee was allegedly told by Mr. Enriquez to lie to the hospital staff about where and how he was injured, says Mr. Poizner.

Juan's Roofing has a workers' compensation insurance policy through State Compensation Insurance Fund. But no claim was ever filed on behalf of the employee for his injury, the state Department of Insurance says.

During the investigation, SCIF conducted an audit for policy period July 7, 2008 through July 7, 2009. The SCIF auditor uncovered unreported payroll to SCIF in the amount of $15,829.22 with approximately 20 employees employed by Juan's Roofing. The Employment Development Department (EDD) was contacted and confirmed that Juan's Roofing was not reporting any payroll to EDD as required by law.