Five Employers Plead Guilty to $269,000 in Fraud for Lapsed Coverage

Tuesday, July 17, 2018 | 0

Five employers and one injured worker have been convicted of defrauding the Ohio workers' compensation system of more than $269,000.

“If these employers had just played by the rules and reached out to us for help when they were struggling, we could have had a better outcome for all involved,” Jim Wernecke, director of BWC’s special investigations department, said in a statement issued Friday. “Instead, they went in a different direction and now they have a criminal record in addition to their unpaid BWC premiums.”

The six were convicted in June after an investigation by the bureau. They are:

Randall Mount, owner of Ram Restoration, a construction company, allowed coverage to lapse for his workers. He pleaded no contest June 25 after the bureau found that he had been operating without coverage for more than two years. Regulators said they worked with Mount to bring his company into compliance, but he failed to follow through. Mount owes more than $190,000 in premiums and claims costs. His sentencing is set for Aug. 13.

John Triskett, owner of The Gyro Spot restaurant, pleaded guilty June 19 to attempted fraud for underreporting his payroll and not carrying workers' comp coverage. He was sentenced to six months of probation and is on the hook for $1,140 in restitution to the bureau.

Jason Brown, doing business as Bolts Carriers LLC, pleaded no contest June 12 to failure to letting coverage lapse in 2015. His sentence was suspended conditionally, giving Brown until December to show that his comp policy had been reinstated. Before his sentencing, he paid $1,900 toward his balance of $55,000, the bureau said.

Howard McIntosh, owner of Custom Canvas, pleaded guilty to lapsed coverage, and a judge gave him three months to have his policy reinstated. He has paid $1,000 toward his balance of $23,000 in premiums owed.

Steven Frair, head of Frair Ltd., made a guilty plea for failure to renew coverage since 2015. He told the judge that his business had closed in 2017, and he was fined $165.

Injured worker Karrie Hoskisson, 44, pleaded guilty to working in Colorado while collecting benefits. The former dog groomer was sentenced to 36 days in jail.