Warrant: Roofer commits insurance fraud

MIDDLETOWN -- The owner of a local roofing business has been charged with workers' compensation insurance fraud after allegedly misclassifying workers in an effort to lower his company's insurance costs.

Luis Pomaquiza, a 42-year-old Southington resident and owner of Middletown-based LA Roofing LLC, was charged with the class D felony earlier this month following a monthslong investigation by the Office of the State's Attorney for the State of Connecticut.

The investigation that led to Pomaquiza's Oct. 15 arrest began in October 2023, when investigators found that LA Roofing had omitted wages for certain employees from its insurance reports, according to a warrant filed in state Superior Court in Middletown.

The warrant says LA Roofing had a workers' compensation policy with a yearly premium of $1,340 based on reported wages for job classifications of "salespersons or collectors" and "clerical office employees."

Despite being "in the business of doing roof replacement/repair work," the warrant says no wages for roofers were included in the reports.

A review of LA Roofing's past workers' compensation policies showed the company had reported tens of thousands of dollars in wages for roofing employees in years past, but stopped doing so after a policy it held was canceled in June 2021 due to nonpayment of a premium, according to the warrant.

Records showed LA Roofing obtained a new policy in July 2021, but stopped reporting any wages for roofing employees after that. As a result, the warrant says, the company paid a "drastically reduced yearly premium" for its workers' compensation insurance policies.

The warrant says LA Roofing reported wages for four employees for the first three quarters of 2023, but the "Meet the Team" page on the company's website featured several people who were not among the four listed in the company's insurance reports.

Despite the lack of reported wages for roofing employees, the warrant says LA Roofing's website stated that its crew was covered by workers' compensation insurance.

An inspector with the Office of the State's Attorney for the State of Connecticut also found dozens of videos on LA Roofing's YouTube and TikTok accounts showing Pomaquiza and other workers performing roof replacement work at homes around Connecticut, according to the warrant.

When confronted about LA Roofing's workers' compensation coverage, the warrant says Pomaquiza told the inspector the company did not employ roofers and instead used subcontractors.

The warrant says Pomaquiza, however, refused to provide the names of the subcontractors, telling the inspector, "If you want to find that out, you have to figure it out yourself."

After obtaining 77 building permits issued to LA Roofing or Pomaquiza for roof replacements in various municipalities, the warrant says the inspector and other investigators visited two sites in Southington to determine whether those performing the work were LA Roofing employees.

Investigators spoke to eight people at one site, all of whom said they worked for LA Roofing, with seven reporting that they were paid in cash, according to the warrant. Pomaquiza also showed up at the site and claimed that all eight workers were independent contractors, but did not provide any documentation proving his claim, the warrant says.

On Oct. 19, 2023, the warrant says LA Roofing was issued a stop-work order for "misrepresenting employees as independent contractors" and "materially misrepresenting or concealing employee duties so as to avoid proper classification for calculations."

Four days later, the warrant says an attorney provided investigators with a statement identifying a home improvement company owned by Pomaquiza's brother as a subcontractor for LA Roofing, but investigators found the company's workers' compensation policy showed "no active employees."

The warrant says bank records showed LA Roofing had issued a $3,610 check to Pomaquiza's brother's company in reference to the same Southington project where investigators previously found eight workers who identified themselves as LA Roofing employees.

The Department of Labor subsequently assessed $60,600 in penalties against LA Roofing for violations, including misclassifying employees as independent contractors and failing to meet workers' compensation coverage requirements. The warrant says the amount was later reduced to $25,000, which the company paid in full in January 2024.

The investigation into LA Roofing continued in August 2024 with a review of 24 additional building permits issued to LA Roofing and a visit to a Southington home where nine workers were performing a roof replacement.

The warrant says some told investigators they worked for LA Roofing, while others said they worked for a subcontractor. After determining that three of the nine workers were LA Roofing employees, the warrant says the company was again cited for employee misclassification and paid a $3,600 penalty.

Following that site visit, the warrant says LA Roofing's workers' compensation policy was updated to reflect employee wages for roofers and other workers, increasing its annual premium from $1,340 to $12,401.

Investigators concluded that Pomaquiza "knowingly provided false, incomplete or misleading information" about the number of employees working for LA Roofing from Oct. 19, 2023, through Aug. 15, 2024, in order to pay a lower workers' compensation premium.

Bank records showed LA Roofing made $377,448 in payments to Pomaquiza's brother's company between Nov. 1, 2023, and Aug. 26, 2024. The warrant says those payments represented wages for employees associated with the company, and if they had been reported to LA Roofing's workers' compensation insurer, the company would have had a "significantly higher" policy premium.

Following his Oct. 15 arrest, court records show Pomaquiza was released on a $10,000 bond and has a Dec. 2 plea hearing scheduled at state Superior Court in Middletown.

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