File this one under, “What was he thinking?”. It seems that a California man who had been working as an interior designer and even appeared on an HGTV interior design reality show despite the fact that he had been collecting disability payments for his inability to work.
From AOL News:
Fifty-six-year-old Ronald Hunt of Los Angeles was sentenced Tuesday to 200 hours of community service and ordered to pay more than $180,000 in restitution, unpaid taxes and fines. He pleaded guilty to two felony counts of fraud.
The state’s Franchise Tax Board says Hunt falsely claimed he was disabled for three years and collected almost $150,000 in benefits, while earning about $400,000 in income as an interior designer.
An employee of the insurance company that was paying Hunt’s benefits saw Hunt on a Home and Garden Television program and reported him to the state Department of Insurance.
I’m at complete loss as to why this man didn’t think that he’d be found out.
Lesson learned: Don’t mess with the State of California. You’ll never win. Especially if you appear on television.
IN regard to “Don’t mess with the State of California. You’ll never win”: Note that the moron above was turned in by an insurance company agent, the State failed to check, they just kept mailing him checks. It takes a flagrant violation to get any remedial action.
If you have a handful of rusty tools, go ahead and pretend you are a contractor and work without a license. The CSLB has only a couple of enforcement officers so the chances of a fine are nil. In addition, many homeowners think they are clever and saving money by hiring unlicensed contractors and homeowners are rarely fined for breaking the law.
Lori, I suggest the HR moral here should be revised, removing any credit whatsoever for regulatory surveillance by the State of California.