Charitable acts
lead to reduced insurance fraud convictions
By Neal Putnam
The Alpine Sun
SAN DIEGO — An Alpine couple has been placed on three years
probation after pleading guilty to providing inaccurate
information to a state agency about their construction company’s
employees. The information was used to determine the premium rate
and lower the cost of their workers' compensation insurance
policy.
Robert Hernandez Rodriguez, 50, and Sandra Lee
Rodriguez, 49, were ordered to perform 125 hours and 80 hours of
volunteer work respectively at any nonprofit organization. San
Diego Superior Court Judge David Danielsen did not order any jail
time.
Robert Rodriguez, who is the founder and owner of RH
General Inc., JBD Construction and JBO Staffing, paid restitution
of $132,531.83 to the State Employment Development Department.
Deputy District Attorney Ernie Marugg said the amount paid was
deemed to be payment in full.
An Alpine family, among other victims of the 2003 Cedar
fire, wrote favorably to the judge about the Rodriguez's help in
rebuilding their homes. An attorney wrote that Rodriguez only
charged people for materials and labor. Rodriguez's businesses
involve constructing apartments and condominiums.
Before he started his own firms, Robert Rodriguez,
worked as a foreman at an Alpine construction company from 1986 to
1996.
A county grand jury indicted Robert and Sandra
Rodriguez and 52 year-old office manager Christa Hellgren on
conspiracy and related charges in December 2005. According to
court records, the evidence included the firm's time sheets and
monthly payroll reports.
All three pleaded guilty to making false declarations
of fact about their employees, which affected the premium rate and
cost of the workers compensation insurance policy. They also
pleaded guilty to willful failure to supply the information to the
state with the intent to commit tax evasion.
The judge, on June 21, reduced all the felony
convictions to misdemeanors. Robert Rodriguez was ordered to pay
$889 in costs for probation supervision and a $239 fine. Hellgren
was also placed on probation, and she was ordered to perform 80
hours of volunteer work.
All three were booked and quickly released from jail,
as they had not been arrested after charges were filed against
them. The maximum penalty that could have been sentenced before
the charges were reduced was five years and eight months in prison
and a $5,000 fine.
Robert Rodriguez put on a fundraiser in 2003 at an East
County golf course for a 23 year-old waiter at a La Mesa
restaurant who had cancer. The waiter, whose cancer is now in
remission, wrote favorably to the judge saying Rodriguez is “one
in a million.” According to defense records Rodriguez also raised
funds for a Mexican orphanage in 2005 for which he personally
donated $10,000.
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