Arrests of Four Suspects in Alleged $39 Million Workers' Compensation Premi

Dogpatch

This is interesting. This case apparently involves several employees who were given jail sentences for their involvement, and many of them are apparently Latino Witnesses:
http://www.insurance.ca.gov/0400-news/0100-press-releases/0070-2006/release130-06.cfm
News: 2006 Press Release
For Release: October 18, 2006 Media Calls Only: 916-492-3566 Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi Announces Arrests of Four Suspects in Alleged $39 Million Workers' Compensation Premium Fraud Case Investigation exposed what is likely the largest amount of fraud committed against an insurance company in California; one suspect still at large
LOS ANGELES ––Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi today announced the arrests of four suspects who allegedly committed more than $39,280,000 worth of workers’ compensation premium fraud against three insurance companies.
After a nearly four-year investigation conducted by the Department of Insurance’s (CDI) Fraud Division, investigators served arrest warrants on Tuesday against Luis Perez, 37, of Dove Canyon; Paul Rodas, 40, of Costa Mesa; Elizabeth Waldo (aka: Elizabeth Middleton), 58, and Oscar Hidalgo, 31, both of Yorba Linda. An arrest warrant is still outstanding for Javier Chavolla, 36, also of Yorba Linda. All of the suspects were either owners or principal employees of temporary employment agencies known as Checkmate Staffing Inc.; Checkmate Staffing West Inc.; Checkmate Staffing West Inc.; Checkmate Transport Inc; Tower Temps, Inc.; Staffaide Inc.; RPM Staff Leasing; and Tower Staffing Inc.
“This amount of alleged fraud, and fraud committed in other cases, is not only harmful to businesses and employees, but to our economy,” said Commissioner Garamendi. “We will continue our work to ensure that fraud does not add debilitating costs to our fragile workers’ compensation system.”
Perez and Rodas were arrested at their current place of employment in Foothill Ranch. Waldo was arrested at her residence by the Chino Hills Police Department, and Hidalgo was arrested at his place of employment in Orange.
Each of the four suspects has been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit workers’ compensation insurance fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit denial of workers’ compensation insurance benefits. If convicted, they could face up to 10 years in prison. Perez was booked into Orange County jail with bail set at $10 million. Waldo was booked into West Valley Detention Center Jail on $500,000 bail. Hidalgo was booked into Orange County jail on $500,000 bail, and Rodas was booked into Orange County jail on $250,000 bail.
The suspects were all owners or employees who are alleged to have fraudulently underreported and/or misclassified employees to several insurance companies, including State Compensation Insurance Fund, Zurich American Insurance Company, and Redland Insurance Company. The suspects’ companies were neither licensed insurers nor were they bonded and able to act as a third party administrator.
The San Bernardino County District Attorney’s office is prosecuting this case, and additional arrests are expected.
If anyone has information regarding Chavolla or other aspects of this case, please contact the CDI Fraud Division’s regional office in Rancho Cucamonga at (909) 919-2200, or your local law enforcement agency.
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sspo

How do you know that they might be latino witnesses?
Dogpatch

I received a letter from an anon JW who said, in part,
"I am still on the "inside" but I read your material and share a lot of your points of view. I am sending some information about an undetected financial scandal here in So Cal involving JWs, the matter has been reported but the news media has not made a connection on the religious involvement of the parties in this case. This is going on mostly in the Spanish congs.
"The matter deals with a staffing company that went into BK in 2003 after being raided for Worker's Compensation premiums violations. Then last October, 5 individuals were arrested for a 39 million dollars fraud, all of them are JWs. There is one that is a fugitive and he was DF some time back for some other reason. After the demise of the original company CheckMate, what they did was organize a second company Staffcore with the same personnel and structure than the first one, that company is still active.
"Almost everyone involved with this Company is a JW; some of the names mentioned in the different forums are elders and have very high positions in the Organization. The area were this is more notorious is Orange, Anaheim, Yorba Linda, Brea, Fullerton; their business went into some other states and I am sure that the same situation regarding the JWs involvement applies. What makes the situation more interesting is that within the congregations in the area, everyone seems to know what is going on but nothing is being done about it."
This is new to me, anyone else hear about it? I have no contact or address for the person who sent the above.
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http://www.insurancejournal.com/comments/?a=/news/west/2006/10/19/73428.htm&c=54132
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Not sure why the embedded page does'nt contain this portion:

Subject: i just did
Posted On: November 15, 2006, 6:09 pm CST Posted By: just me Comment: Mr. Peter Lugo what a hypocrite you are. Checkmate staffing is the most corrupt agency around. I personally know every single crooked employee of checkmate. Mr. Lou Perez, Sergio Perez, Jonny Alvarez, Paul Rodas, Peter Lugo, Oscar Hidalgo and Javier Chavolla are all crooked dishonest religious people so called Jehovah's Witnesses. How do I know this cause I was told to manipulate documentation and break the rules by all of you. I'm currently working on sending a 25 page letter to the O.C. Register regarding everything I know about everyone in Checkmate Staffing. Just a little taste; Oscar Hidalgo I know about your abortion with your ex-girlfriend. Lou Perez I know about you paying a person for a drive buy shooting in Rancho to the company that owed you money REMEMBER!!!!!!! Boy o boy do I have dirt on every single one you. STAY TUNE.
candidlynuts

it's under the comments... there are a couple that mention that the accused are jw's

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[PDF]

CheckMate Raided in Insurance Probe

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Javier Chavolla, president of CheckMate, said Tuesday's raid stemmed from a. misunderstanding. He declined to comment further, saying only that the offices ...
www.teamone.la/company/media_center/CMFRAUD.pdf - Similar pages

CheckMate Raided in Insurance Probe

By Marla Dickerson and Karen Robinson-Jacobs, Times Staff Writers, LA Times, November 05, 2003

More than 100 law enforcement officers and investigators raided California offices of a major temporary staffing company Tuesday as part of a probe into workers' compensation fraud. Search warrants were served at 22 offices of

CheckMate Staffing Inc., said Dale Banda, chief of the fraud division for the California Department of Insurance. Banda said the investigation, which he characterized as "large, complex … and ongoing," focused on misrepresentations Orange-based CheckMate may have made to its insurance carriers in an alleged attempt to qualify for lower premiums. Banda said no arrests were made and would not disclose what law enforcement officials seized from CheckMate's offices, which were closed on Tuesday after the early-morning sweep. But he said investigators would be analyzing financial and computer records. Javier Chavolla, president of CheckMate, said Tuesday's raid stemmed from a misunderstanding. He declined to comment further, saying only that the offices would reopen today. The investigation of CheckMate is part of a stepped-up effort by the Department of Insurance and its commissioner, John Garamendi, to fight abuses in the state's troubled workers' comp system. Banda said some employers have resorted to defrauding their carriers in an attempt to lower their rates, which have skyrocketed in California in recent years. Employer schemes include underreporting the size of their staffs or payrolls, classifying workers engaged in high-risk jobs as having lower-risk occupations and hiding the true number of workplace-related injuries, he said. Tuesday's raid, he said, was a coordinated effort between Department of Insurance investigators and law enforcement officials from the San Bernardino County district attorney's office, as well as personnel from the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department. The search warrants were authorized by a Superior Court judge in San Bernardino County, where Banda said complaints about CheckMate first originated from an insurance carrier writing policies there. Banda, who declined to identify the insurer, said "multiple" carriers could be victims. He would not speculate on the amount of potential insurance fraud linked to the probe, but he said the investigation was the biggest of its type this year.

"We would not expend this many officers if we didn't think it was a very large case," he said. Insurance fraud is a felony that carries a penalty of as many as five years in prison, fines of as much as $50,000 or double the amount of the fraud for each count. CheckMate was founded in 1991 by Lou E. Perez. It maintains 47 branch locations in California, Arizona, Nevada and Texas, according to Dunn & Bradstreet. Industry sources say its specialty is providing temporary workers for manufacturing and light-industrial firms. Perez could not be reached for comment Tuesday. According to published reports, Perez was born in a small town near the Mexican resort of Mazatlan and grew up in Orange. The Orange County Business Journal last year ranked CheckMate No. 4 on its list of Orange County's largest minority-owned firms, with revenue of $159.9 million, up 62% from the year before.

Arrests of Four Suspects in Alleged $39 Million Workers' Compensation Premi

Subject: i just did

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