The Santa Barbara District Attorney announced that 59 year old Alberto Rodriguez, who lives in Santa Barbara, entered a plea to three felony counts and one misdemeanor count in Santa Barbara Superior Court.

The investigation into Rodriguez and his business, United Seal Coating and Slurry Seal, Inc., began in September of 2013 and was conducted by detectives from the California Department of Insurance along with investigators from the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office.

At the time, Rodriguez was performing numerous Public Works contracts for the University of California, Santa Barbara.

One of his workers was injured on the job and filed a workers’ compensation claim. Rodriguez denied that the worker was his employee, which was later determined to be false. The investigation into the workers’ compensation fraud charges led investigators to other criminal conduct by Rodriguez and his business.

Rodriguez’s plead guilty to one felony count of fax fraud for filing a fraudulent tax return under Revenue and Taxation Code section 19705(a)(l); one felony count of Workers’ Compensation Insurance Fraud under Insurance Code section 1871.4; one felony count of Supplying False or Fraudulent Payroll Documentation under Unemployment Insurance Code section 2117 .5; and one misdemeanor count of Labor Code section 1779.

Rodriguez will be sentenced on January 18, 2017. It is expected that he will be sentenced to one year in county jail and be ordered to pay restitution to the Employment Development Department in the amount of$65,164.06; The Franchise Tax Board, $24,298; State Compensation Insurance Fund, $77,114.48; and FirstComp Insurance, $2,496.54, for a total of $169,073.08.