Douglas Lambert, 48, of West Hills and owner of Lambert Air Conditioning was convicted of committing workers’ compensation insurance premium fraud for failing to properly report employee payroll to the insurance carrier.

Lambert was ordered to pay more than $110,300 in restitution to Clarendon National and the State of California.

In response to a complaint in February 2010, the Department of Insurance in a joint effort with the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office began an investigation into Lambert. Lambert, a licensed air conditioning contractor operating in Tulare County, did not report any employee payroll to Clarendon National Insurance Company causing his business to pay at a lower premium. The investigation uncovered evidence Lambert failed to properly report employee payroll to the carrier from 2006 to 2009.

Lambert reported no employee payroll to Clarendon for the first three quarters of 2006 yet the business reported more than $8,800 in wages to the Employment Development Department during this same time period.

Further investigation revealed Lambert reported an employee injury to Clarendon National as a workers’ compensation claim although he was reporting no employee wages to them.

Douglas Lambert pled guilty to one count of insurance fraud.