Ventura, CA – District Attorney Erik Nasarenko recently announced that Robert Zermeno Delara of Fillmore, pled guilty to felony workers’ compensation fraud and admitted a special allegation that the theft totaled more than $100,000.
Delara is the owner-operator of two farm labor companies that provide harvesting and labor services to local agricultural producers.
In his plea, Delara admitted to discouraging his employees from obtaining medical care for on-the-job injuries they sustained. He also admitted making material misrepresentations to his insurance carriers about the occurrence of such injuries in order to lower his insurance premiums.
“The District Attorney’s Office will not tolerate the abuse of farmworkers in our county,” said District Attorney Erik Nasarenko. “Any employer who conceals workplace injuries to fraudulently obtain lower insurance rates will be held accountable.”
At the time the case was filed, the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office Workers’ Compensation Fraud Unit obtained a court order seizing over $1 million in Delara’s bank accounts and assets in connection with the fraud. As a condition of his plea, these assets will be liquidated to pay victim restitution and fines. Delara is scheduled to be sentenced on June 2, 2022, at 9:00 a.m. in courtroom 23 of the Ventura County Superior Court. He faces a maximum sentence of eight years in jail.
Source: Ventura DA’s Office