Simi Valley man found guilty of workers’ compensation insurance fraud




A Simi Valley contractor accused of multiple counts of workers’ compensation insurance fraud has repaid more than $150,000 in restitution to the state and is now awaiting his sentencing next month.

James Wood, the 49-year-old owner of Wood Construction Company, pleaded guilty to two counts of felony insurance fraud April 8, according to Ventura County court records. A special allegation of fraud offenses was found to be true.

He was found not guilty of a separate count of insurance fraud, as well as carrying a loaded concealed firearm in a vehicle and possession of an assault weapon, all felonies, court records show.

“Wood, a contractor, admitted to misrepresenting his total payroll and number of employees between 2015 and 2017 to fraudulently obtain lower workers’ compensation insurance premiums, defrauding (the State Compensation Insurance Fund) of $151,891,” the Ventura County district attorney’s office said in an April 9 statement.

As of the April 8 hearing, Wood had repaid the $151,891 in full, according to court records. Wood is scheduled to be sentenced May 13.

Workers’ compensation fraud is not a victimless crime, officials said, because it results in inflated costs to insurance carriers, who then pass those increases on to law-abiding employees.

“Perpetrators of premium fraud also obtain an unfair competitive advantage over law-abiding businesses because their costs are much lower than their competitors,” the DA’s office said.

According to the Contractors State License Board, Wood Construction’s license was last renewed in February 2020 and it remains active.

Wood’s guilty plea is the second case of worker’s compensation fraud prosecuted by the DA’s office in recent months.

On March 3, Simi resident David Burgmeier was ordered to pay nearly $171,000 in restitution and serve 180 days in jail and then 24 months of formal probation.

As part of his sentence, the 53-year-old former owner of Burgmeier Construction was ordered to repay $141,265 to the California Victims State Fund and $29,610 to the Employment Development Department, officials said. As of his March 3 sentencing, he had repaid $45,000 of that total.

The sentence stems from a plea deal he made in December 2020, when he pleaded guilty to four counts of insurance fraud and four counts of unemployment insurance fraud, all felonies, the DA’s office said. He also admitted to two special allegations of excess losses over $100,000.

Burgmeier owned and operated the company from March 2008 to March 2016 and during that time he allegedly misrepresented the number of his employees and the total amount of payroll, the DA’s office said.