Home Improvement Contractor Charged with Filing False Work Comp Documents

Friday, December 18, 2015 | 0

Prosecutors in New York state have charged the owner of a home improvement business for allegedly failing to carry workers' compensation coverage for her employees.

Christina Prasad, of Schenectady, owner of CK Construction and Remodeling, is charged with three counts of offering a false instrument for filing, a felony.

Prasad is accused of applying for building permits from the city of Schenectady for small residential projects valued at between $1,400 and $5,500, the Times-Union newspaper reports.

Included in the applications were certifications stating she had workers' compensation insurance for her workers, it is alleged. The coverage was canceled for nonpayment two months prior to the March 2015 applications, the state's Inspector General Catherine Leahy Scott said.

The arrest and charging of Prasad Wednesday is part of an ongoing coordinated effort by local and state law enforcement agencies to clamp down on workers' compensation fraud, the inspector general said. More arrests are expected soon, she added.

Prasad pleaded guilty in Lenoir County, North Carolina to six counts of felony forgery in 2003, and pleaded guilty in Onslow County, North Carolina in 2004 to attempting to obtain property under false pretenses and to misdemeanor financial card fraud, the inspector general's office said.

She was arraigned on the workers' compensation charges in Schenectady City Court and is due to return to court on Jan. 13.