Zachary Navo, 38, of Visalia, Calif., was arraigned yesterday on five felony counts of insurance fraud after a California Department of Insurance investigation revealed he allegedly underreported wages by over $2.5 million in an attempt to fraudulently reduce workers’ compensation premium payments, resulting in a loss of over $135,000 to his insurance companies.
In December 2017, State Compensation Insurance Fund issued Navo a workers’ comp insurance policy for his private security business, Element Security Solutions Inc. In June 2018, Navo completed a payroll report indicating he had $80,500 in payroll for the first six months of the policy period. Navo failed to submit subsequent payroll information and failed to comply with an end of policy audit.