In what appears to be a very busy week, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office announced that a 32-year-old Lodi man has been arrested and charged with felony Workers’ Compensation Fraud after he was videotaped repeatedly skydiving despite claiming that he was unable to work due to a workplace injury.
Donald Ray Simmons, Jr., a Santa Clara concrete cutter, is accused of defrauding Arch Insurance Company of approximately $52,000. Simmons, Jr. faces a maximum of 5 years and 4 months incarceration if convicted of making false or fraudulent material statements in order to claim Workers’ Compensation benefits, and attempted perjury. He would also be ordered to pay full restitution. Simmons, Jr. has posted $20,000 bail and will be arraigned on April 23, 2015.
In December 2013, the defendant, who worked for a Santa Clara construction company, claimed an injury was causing him excruciating pain, making it so he could not use his left arm to drive. Yet he was videotaped using his left hand to drive a car with no apparent restriction of movement. Insurance investigators filmed him during March and April of 2014 repeatedly boarding an airplane in full jump gear and later landing with tandem clients strapped to his body, controlling his parachute and gathering it in using his left arm with no apparent distress or difficulty.
In an unrelated case, the Santa Clara County District Attorney also announced that the owner and operator of The Floor Center, a tile and floor retailer and remodeling company in Santa Clara, has been charged with Workers’ Compensation Insurance Fraud.
Ahmad Molaie, 61, of San Jose, was arrested on April 15, 2015 on one felony count of Workers’ Compensation Premium Insurance Fraud. Molaie faces up to six years of incarceration if convicted and would be ordered to pay full restitution. Molaie has posted $10,000 bail and will be arraigned on April 27, 2015.
An investigation showed that between 2011 and 2014, Molaie grossly underreported his company’s payroll. Molaie also misrepresented the nature of his business to his Workers’ Compensation insurance carrier by claiming The Floor Center was only a flooring retailer when it also handled remodeling construction projects. His alleged claims resulted in paying $117,248 less in premiums.