Copyright held by The John Cooke Fraud Report. Reprint rights are granted with attribution to The John Cooke Fraud Report with a link to this website.
The Employment Development Department, the Franchise Tax Board, the Department of Industrial Relations and the Contractor’s State License Board combined forces and put a stop to a fraud estimated to have cost the insurance industry more than $2.4 million and the State Franchise Tax Board more than $1.1 million.
Thomas Alan Parsons and his wife Michelle Lynn Parsons, both of Colton, California, were charged with 19 felony counts for insruance fraud, grand theft and tax evasion. James Robert Parsons of Yucaipa was charged with six counts of insurance fraud and grand theft. If convicted, the defendants could face up to seven years in state prison and fines up to $50,000. The San Diego District Attorney’s Office is prosecuting the case.
The two brothers, Thomas and James Parsons, are the owners of two residential framing companies. Tom Parsons Framing and Parsons Framing, Inc. According to CDI Fraud.
Investigators, the defendants fraudulently misrepresented payroll information to their carriers. Investigators learned that the defendants underreported their payroll and misclassified their employee status. Additionally, investigators discoverd that Thomas Parsons evaded his experience modification by hiding payroll through other “shell” businesses. Thomas and Michelle Parsons were also charged with failing to file state tax returns for 1997 and 1998.