Business owners receive prison time for workers’ comp fraud

The owners/operators of Triple Star Home Improvement and Roofing in Northwood (Wood County) have been sentenced to two and a half years of prison and ordered to pay more than $200,000 in restitution after they were convicted of workers’ compensation fraud. Michelle Scaggs and Frederick Diebert operated their construction business advertising they only used employees, not subcontractors, and they were insured through the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC). The defendants even included a copy of the their BWC certificate of coverage with the contracts they provided to their clients while at the same time reporting to the BWC that they did not have any employees. BWC’s Special Investigations Department (SID) attempted to work with Scaggs and Diebert without success. An audit showed the couple owned outstanding premiums in excess of $200,000 during the indictment period.