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The owner of a California roofing company will spend his nights in prison in connection with half-a-million dollars in workers’ comp insurance fraud. He’ll spend his days working to pay back the $510,000 he should have spent on insurance.

Michael Holley, owner of SoCal Roofing, pleaded guilty to more than a dozen felony counts of insurance fraud. Now he’ll spend a year’s worth of nights in prison for the crime.

Holley got caught when one of his workers fell off a roof in Rancho Santa Margarita, CA. The employee filed a workers’ comp claim, but Holley denied the man worked for SoCal.

Holley had acquired only a minimum amount of workers’ comp insurance from the state and didn’t declare that he hired subcontractors and paid some workers in cash to keep them off of the official payroll.

So far, Holley has paid back $120,000. His sentencing had already been postponed six times so he could pay back some of the money. He could have faced up to 21 years in prison had he been convicted at trial instead of entering into a plea agreement.

Holley’s wages will be garnished to help pay his restitution.

Tags: roofing, worker fell off roof, workers' comp fraud