Trucking company owner guilty of workers’ comp fraud

Ohio trucking company owner Jeff Davis was found guilty of workers’ comp fraud in a scheme involving his girlfriend, Tabitha Taylor.

Both Davis, owner of Davis Trucking, and Taylor pleaded guilty to filing false worker’s comp claims to provide medical care and narcotics to Taylor. Davis was sentenced to a suspended 10-month prison sentence and was ordered to perform five years of community service and pay $12,000 in restitution in the case.

The couple claimed that Taylor was injured on the job at Davis Trucking, although she has never been employed at the company. The injuries were caused in a domestic dispute with a former boyfriend, according to an Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation Special Investigations Dept. press release. Davis pleaded guilty to concocting the scam.

“Most employers are concerned with maintaining a safe work environment and lowering their premiums, making it hard to believe someone would file a false claim against their own policy,” said Stephen Buehrer, CEO of the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation. “When Mr. Davis chose to perpetrate fraud, he not only risked his own livelihood but also added costs to the whole workers’ comp system, negatively impacting all Ohio businesses.”