Landscaper Pleads Guilty to Double-Dipping Charge

Thursday, May 24, 2018 | 0

A Southern California man pleaded guilty to one count of felony workers’ compensation fraud after investigators discovered that he worked as a landscaper while receiving disability benefits for an alleged injury that he suffered while working for another landscaping company, according to a report in the Ventura County Star.

Jose Alvizo-Rodriguez of Santa Paula will be sentenced on July 19. He faces a maximum of five years behind bars and a fine of $150,000, according to the newspaper.

Alvizo-Rodriguez, 46, filed a claim in July 2015 while working for Daley Landscaping in Ojai. He began receiving temporary total disability benefits form Pacific Compensation Insurance.

Alvizo-Rodriguez went to work for Coastal Farm Labor in Oxnard in August 2016, while still receiving TTD benefits, according to the Ventura County District Attorney's Office. He did not inform Coastal that he was receiving benefits and did not inform his former employer that he was working, according to the report.