El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office Abruptly Halts Archer/Allison/Morman Workers-Comp Fraud Trial
The Sacramento Bee
(PLACERVILLE, CALIFORNIA) Sept 25, 2022 — Charges have been dropped against three people accused of defrauding the state’s compensation insurance fund to save more than $127,000 in workers compensation insurance premiums.
El Dorado Superior Court Judge Mark Ralphs dismissed the charges on Tuesday during the fourth week of a jury trial.
The ruling came after last-minute evidence surfaced that showed the defendants were acting on the professional advice of a Roseville insurance agency. A representative of the insurance agency advised the defendants in an email that a carpentry company qualified as a new business and thus lower insurance rates from the State Compensation Insurance Fund. […]
Troy Williams, 49 of Angel Camp, John Allison, 63, of Rocklin, and Nanci Morman, 68, of Somerset, were charged last May with multiple counts of insurance fraud after a joint investigation by the California Department of Insurance and the El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office.
“This has been a nightmare for me,” said Williams, who suffers from brain cancer. […]
Authorities had contended that Williams, the owner of Archer Building Co. in El Dorado Hills, had conspired with John Allison back in 2016 to move his employees to a new company, Allison Development in Roseville, in order to save on worker’s compensation rates. […]
Before this month’s trial, Williams said he was offered a plea deal of paying a $127,000 fine and no jail time, if he agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor charges. Otherwise, he faced a multi-year prison term if found guilty.
“I am adamant that I am not going to let my own government try to blackmail me into saying I did something I didn’t do,” Williams said in an interview.
While he won’t be paying a fine, his legal bills have cost more than $125,000 …