Tree Trimmer Pleads Guilty Again to Comp Fraud

Tuesday, March 28, 2017 | 0

An Akron tree trimmer with a history of “cheating” the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation must pay $17,366 in restitution after pleading guilty to one count of workers’ compensation fraud, a fourth-degree felony.

It was the second conviction for Matthew Mueller, 46, of Mueller Tree & Landscape, since 2005, the agency said.

In the current case, Mueller underreported his payroll to lower his premiums by thousands of dollars, the BWC said.

A Summit County Court of Common Pleas judge also sentenced him to 24 months of community control.

The BWC’s employer fraud unit got a tip in 2012 that Mueller was intentionally underreporting his payroll. Investigators learned he was misclassifying employees as subcontractors and advised him how to correctly report his payroll. Three years later, however, investigators said Mueller was still misclassifying his employees and again underreporting his payroll, this time by nearly $40,000 for the first half of 2015 alone.

“It’s unfortunate that one criminal conviction isn’t enough for some people to learn a lesson,” said BWC Administrator/CEO Sarah Morrison.

Mueller pleaded guilty in August 2005 to forgery, tampering with records and failure to pay workers’ compensation coverage. He got a suspended eight-month jail sentence and two years of probation.