Ohio Freight Hauler Sentenced for Workers’ Comp Fraud, Must Repay $144K

The owner of a Mansfield, Ohio, freight hauling and trucking company convicted on four felony charges related to workers’ compensation fraud, has been ordered to pay the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) $144,400 in restitution.

The BWC reported that Robert Tate, owner of Elite TNT Enterprises, also was ordered to serve two years of probation. He was convicted on two counts of workers’ comp fraud, fourth-degree felonies, and two counts of tampering with records, third-degree felonies.

A Richland County judge also ordered Tate to bring his BWC policy into compliance with state law and pay the agency $137,447 in unpaid policy premiums and $6,953 for the costs of its investigation.

BWC’s special investigations department discovered in 2017 that Tate was operating his business without BWC coverage. After several attempts to work with Tate, agents subpoenaed bank records and audited his business, finding Tate under-reported his payroll over several payroll periods in an attempt to lower the amount he owed the agency.

They also found he falsified new applications for BWC coverage by failing to list previous policies with the agency and he under-reported the number of workers he employed.

Source: Ohio BWC

Topics Fraud Workers' Compensation Ohio Trucking