ROOFING CONTRACTOR CONVICTED OF INSURANCE FRAUD AND FAILING TO PAY TAXES AFTER WORKER FALLS FROM ROOF

ROOFING CONTRACTOR CONVICTED OF
INSURANCE FRAUD AND FAILING TO PAY TAXES
AFTER WORKER FALLS FROM ROOF

SANTA ANA – A roofing contractor was convicted today of failing to provide workers’ compensation insurance for an injured employee who fell from a roof and failing to pay insurance premiums for unclaimed employees, who were paid in cash. Michael Amzie Holley, 41, Murrieta, pleaded guilty to a court offer to two felony counts of perjury by declaration, two felony counts of recording false and forged instruments, one felony count of misrepresenting facts to the State Compensation Insurance Fund (SCIF), seven felony counts of making a fraudulent statement, one felony count of presenting a fraudulent material statement to obtain compensation, one felony count of making a false statement to discourage an injured worker from claiming benefits, one felony count of willfully failing to pay taxes, and one felony count of failing to file a return with the intent to evade taxes. Holley also faces a sentencing enhancement for aggravated white collar crime over $500,000.

The maximum possible sentence for these charges is 21 years and eight months in state prison. Based on the court offer, Holley is expected to be sentenced to a maximum of three years in state prison plus restitution at his sentencing on June 25, 2010, at 9:00 a.m. in Department C-43, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana.

Holley is a roofing contractor and owner of So Cal Roofing. The defendant purchased a minimum workers’ compensation policy from SCIF and failed to state that he employed subcontractors, paid workers in cash, hired unlicensed employees, and leased employees from other companies. Holley paid his employees in cash to hide the fact that So Cal Roofing had workers. He received the insurance based on his false declaration, and entered into a contract requiring SCIF to cover all workers employed by Holley, even those employees unknown to the insurance company. Holley submitted inaccurate payroll reports to SCIF, resulting in underpayment of insurance premiums. To hide the fraud, Holley failed to file an accurate tax return to avoid paying taxes to the State on the cash payments made to his employees.  

On March 18, 2003, one of Holley’s employees was injured when he fell off a roof, and subsequently filed a worker’s compensation insurance claim. Holley denied that the injured employee worked for him, thus denying the injured employee his workers’ compensation insurance benefits. On Feb. 24, 2004 and March 2, 2005, Holley fraudulently signed under penalty of perjury that he had no employees at So Cal Roofing and filed these documents with the California State Contractor’s Licensing Board to make him exempt from securing worker’s compensation insurance.

Deputy District Attorney Debbie Jackson of the Insurance Fraud Unit is prosecuting this case.

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