A Woburn business owner has pleaded guilty in connection with failing to accurately report his total payroll or number of employees to his insurance provider to avoid paying the proper insurance premium, Attorney General Martha Coakley said today.
Edward App, 50, pleaded guilty in Middlesex Superior Court to four counts of workers’ compensation fraud and three counts of larceny over $250. He was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in jail, suspended for two years, and two years probation. App was also ordered to pay full restitution.
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App is the owner and sole proprietor of App Tree Inc., a tree service company. The Insurance Fraud Bureau of Massachusetts said it referred this case to the Attorney’s General Office after an investigation into an insurance claim filed by an employee who was injured in a life-threatening accident when he was crushed by a falling tree.
To evade high insurance premiums, App said he was the sole employee of the company and failed to disclose any information about additional workers.
As a result of this scheme, App underpaid his workers’ compensation insurer a total of $39,236 in premium payments, Coakley said.
