RIVERSIDE – Five owners, operators and employees of United Paving and Prestige Striping, a  Corona-based paving company, have been charged in a case involving wage theft, premium fraud, workers’ compensation fraud, and payroll fraud.

"These suspects are accused of crimes that allowed them to gain approximately $4 million dollars," said Alan Barcelona, president of the California Statewide Law Enforcement Association which represents investigators and detectives from the state agencies that investigated this case.

The investigation began about two years ago when dozens of employees made complaints to the Inland Empire Premium Task Force suggesting they had been cheated.

The investigation led to warrants served at two locations.  Investigators seized computers and  bank and  payroll documents.  Wage audits were  conducted on several hundred projects which ultimately led to the filing of criminal charges.

Arrested and charged were:

• Husband and wife, Sabas Trujillo, 35, and Lucia Trujillo, 38, both of Corona (owner & operator)
• Sabas Trujillo's  brother, Rick Trujillo, 37, of Corona (owner & operator)
• Laura Fitzpartick, 31, of Anaheim Hills (employee)
• Alex Trujillo, 27, of Pacoima (no relation to above Trujillos) (employee)

United Paving and Prestige Striping paves and re-paves streets and parking lots nationwide.  Some of the allegations in this case include: insurance premium fraud, workers being paid less than prevailing wages as agreed to in a contract, taking or receiving a portion of workers’ wages, preparing false documents for submission to a government agency, and denying an employee workers’ compensation benefits. It is alleged that the actions of  those charged allowed them to illegally obtain about $4 million. Civil documents have also been filed by the DA’s Office which freezes $6 million in assets of those charged.

The  Inland Empire Premium Task Force is comprised of representatives from the Riverside and San Bernardino county DA’s Offices, the California  Labor Commissioner's Office, California Department of Insurance and the California Employment Development Department.