District Attorney Mark Peterson announced, Friday that after an extensive investigation, 11 felony charges were filed against Nathan and Sarah Moore, owners of NRM Renovations, Inc., in Concord for workers’ compensation fraud, grand theft of labor and payroll tax fraud.
When reached for comment, Nathan Moore said “No comment. I have no comment.”
The investigation originally began with a series of wage and labor complaints to the U.S. Department of Labor in June of 2015. Allegations included that workers were not being paid for work they completed doing hotel renovations for NRM Renovations. The Department of Labor forwarded these complaints to the District Attorney’s office, and a joint investigation of suspected labor violations began. The investigation expanded to include three state agencies. The CA Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) assisted in interviewing the employees. The CA Department of Insurance (CDI) investigated allegations regarding the underpayment of workers’ compensation insurance premiums. The Employment and Development Department (EDD) helped investigate tax and payroll issues.
NRM Renovations is alleged to owe over $30,000 in back wages to several employees, approximately $250,000 in workers’ compensation premiums to several different insurance companies, and back taxes to the EDD on over $1,000,000 in wages.
Charges include three counts of violating Insurance Code §11760(a) (Workers’ Compensation fraud), and one violation each of Insurance Code §11880(a) (Workers’ Compensation fraud), Penal Code §487 (grand theft of labor), Unemployment Insurance Code (“UI”) §2108 (nonpayment of contributions), UI Code §2177.5 (failure to file a return), and UI 2118.5 (Failure to account and pay over taxes). Due to the amount of loss, the defendants were also charged with an Aggravated White Collar Crime enhancement under Penal Code §186.11(a)(3).
“Businesses that exploit their workers through wage theft will be prosecuted,” said District Attorney Mark Peterson. “We place a priority on restitution for all victims.”
Multiple agencies assisted the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office with this investigation including: the US Department of Labor, the Department of Industrial Relations, the Department of Insurance, the Employment and Development Department, the State Compensation Insurance Fund, Norguard and Benchmark Insurance Companies.
Allen Payton contributed to this report.
Were they ever found guilty