RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (WCBS 880) — The owner of a Long Island construction firm was sentenced on Wednesday for failing to pay more than $280,000 in benefits to his employees on public works projects.
Frederick Hutzler, 85, of Holbrook, and his company, Triple H Concrete Corp., located in Ronkonkoma, each pleaded guilty on Aug. 4 to grand larceny in the fourth degree. Hutzler was sentenced to five years of probation and is required to pay $35,000 in restitution to the General Building Laborers Local 66 Trust Fund.
Hutzler and Triple H also received a judgment order for $210,908.74 in restitution, while Triple H is required to pay a $10,000 fine, Suffolk County District Attorney Tim Sini said.
“Workers deserve to be paid what they’re owed for the work they do; it’s that simple,” said Sini. “It is illegal – and frankly immoral – for a company to steal those funds and turn a profit off the backs of workers.
The dispositions reached in this case ensure that the hundreds of thousands of dollars these defendants stole are returned to Laborers 66. My Office’s Labor Crime Unit will continue to fight to protect workers and hold businesses accountable when they fail to comply with their legal obligations.”
Hutzler’s son, 57-year-old Edwin Hutzler, who is a co-owner of the construction firm, has also pleaded guilty to perjury in the second degree in connection with the scheme. He is also required to pay $35,000 in restitution to the builder’s union.
According to Sini, Triple H employed 23 members of General Building Laborers Local 66 on several public works projects in Suffolk County from Jan. 1, 2013 through Dec. 15, 2015.
The company was required by law to provide hourly supplemental benefits to those employees, but during that time, failed to pay $280,908.74 in supplemental benefits to the union, Sini said.
Edwin Hutzler was also convicted for signing a certified payroll submitted on a public works project at the Pulaski Elementary School in Riverhead on Aug. 16, 2016, which he knew contained false information, according to Sini.
As a result of their convictions, both Hutzler and Triple H are prohibited from bidding on public works projects for five years.