The San Jose owner of a flooring company was sentenced to county jail last week to county jail and ordered to pay over $580,000 in restitution for fraud, after being caught under reporting his payroll to avoid paying thousands of dollars in insurance premiums.

An investigation showed Martin Helda had under reported his All Bay Floor payroll avoiding $140,000 in insurance premiums and did not pay his employees about a $1 million in owed overtime.

Helda, 35, pleaded guilty to three fraud counts, including Workers Compensation Premium Fraud, Employment Development Department fraud, and wage theft. In addition to paying restitution to victims, he was sentenced to four months in county jail and 200 hours of community service.

The investigation began after an insurance audit revealed that Helda’s payroll did not match the number of people he had working for him. This case was investigated in conjunction with the newly formed Workers’ Exploitation Task Force (WE TF). DA Investigators utilized partnerships with the Department of Industrial Relations and the State Labor Commission to find justice for victims of wage theft.

A DA investigation uncovered that Helda withheld time and a half overtime wages to at least 18 employees, including one employee who was owed approximately $60,000. However, there could be as much as $1.7 million owed to all employees including those not known to the DA’s Office.

According to his biography posted on IdeaMensch.com Martin Helda “took the California State Contractors License Exam and was one of the youngest people ever in the state to pass the exam, and from there he launched All Bay Area Floors, a commercial flooring company.”

“He grew the business over the next 12 years to be one of the largest flooring companies in the Bay Area, with over 60 employees. Recently, Martin has launched his 2nd business, Bay Area Concrete Polishing, which he plans to be as successful has his first.”

However, at the time of his arrest in April 2021, media sources said he claimed he only had one employee.

Victims who have yet to be identified in this matter may file a wage claim on the Labor Commissioner’s Office website or at any of their office locations.

District Attorney Jeff Rosen said: “Whatever you think you might be saving in the short term will cost you a lot more than money in the long term. Fraud doesn’t pay.”