Builder must repay Ohio comp bureau after underreporting payroll

The owner of a residential construction business in Dayton, Ohio, who allegedly underreported his payroll by more than $3.5 million to lower his workers comp premiums must pay the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation $255,434, the bureau announced Friday.

Honorato Camacho, owner of Field Construction L.L.C., pleaded guilty to a fifth-degree felony count of workers compensation fraud on July 12. Acting on a tip, BWC investigators found Mr. Camacho had deliberately underreported his payroll from 2013 to 2015, the bureau said in a statement.

A judge also sentenced Mr. Camacho to five years of community control, according to the statement.

“Mr. Camacho’s scheme saved him more than $300,000 in premiums, but look what it cost him in the end — he still owes us for the premiums and now he has a felony criminal record on top of it,” said Jim Wernecke, director of the bureau’s special investigations department, in the statement.

The bureau also announced other recent convictions:

• An Akron pain specialist agreed to reimburse the bureau $33,035 and stop seeing injured workers in the BWC system after pleading guilty to a fifth-degree felony count of workers compensation fraud. Acting on a tip from a former patient, BWC investigators found Dr. William Midian falsified patient records so he could bill the agency for services he did not render.

• Arthur J. Brinkerhoff of Newcomerstown, Ohio, pleaded guilty July 25 in Franklin County to one misdemeanor count of workers compensation fraud after a tip alleged he was working as a truck driver while receiving comp benefits. Mr. Brinkerhoff was sentenced to one day in jail with credit for time served. He paid BWC $2,034 in court-ordered restitution.