San Jose, CA – A truck accident that left one man dead exposed a $460,000 workers’ insurance fraud scheme by the owner of a San Jose roofing company.
Charlie Duong, owner of CD All Roofing, tried to cover up that the dead employee had been working full-time for years. Duong’s falsified records, which showed that the driver was part-time and had just started, ended up cutting benefits to the deceased’s wife.
Accused of faking information for his employees to avoid insurance premiums, Duong was arraigned on insurance fraud felonies. He faces jail, if convicted.
“Insurance fraud is not a victimless crime,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said. “This felony crime raises our premiums and leaves innocent workers and their families exposed to financial catastrophe. We will never look the other way.”
Workers’ compensation is insurance that pays for medical expenses and wage replacement if an employee is injured or develops an illness on the job. All employers are required by law to provide it for employees. Losses from the fraud have been estimated to cost insurance companies between $1 to $3 billion dollars in California each year.
On June 19, 2020, four employees in two of Duong’s company trucks were returning from a roofing job. The tire of one of the trucks blew out and the driver overcorrected, causing an accident. Duong’s longtime second-in-command was ejected and died.
Evidence shows that Duong asked the survivor of the accident to lie to investigators by saying that the victim had only started working a few days before and was only working part-time. The employee refused to lie, telling investigators that his dead coworker had been on the job eight years, working six days a week.
Duong also tried to show that the deceased was not on the job when the truck crashed, even though the employees were in company trucks driving back from a job when the accident occurred.
Source: Santa Clara DA’s Office