Texas Business Pleads Guilty to Hiding Payroll

A Midland, Texas-based company has pleaded guilty to misrepresenting the payroll of an affiliated firm, according to workers’ compensation insurer Texas Mutual Insurance Co.

AB Abatement Inc. of Midland, pled guilty to charges that it misrepresented the numbers of employees and payroll associated with the workers’ compensation policies of Vanco Insulation Inc., a related company.

Vanco Insulation Inc., owned by Robert Crow of Midland, obtained workers’ compensation coverage through Texas Mutual from April 2003 to October 2006.

A Travis County district court ordered AB Abatement to pay $70,000 in restitution to Texas Mutual and a $1,000 fine.

Texas Mutual maintains three teams of in-house fraud investigators. In 2011, they saved, identified or recovered $5.2 million through their claimant, health care provider and employer fraud investigations.

Source: Texas Mutual Insurance Co.