Buttonwillow Worker Faces Felony Charges in Workers’ Compensation Insurance Fraud Case

The California Department of Insurance has announced that a warehouse worker in Buttonwillow has been arraigned on multiple felony counts, and will be prosecuted by the Kern County District Attorney’s office. In filing a 2017 claim, Crescensio Covarrubias, 45, allegedly failed to disclose a prior work-related injury for which he had filed a workers’ compensation claim. That 2010 claim was processed by a different insurer, from whom he had received a $90,000 settlement. The Department of Insurance found that he had both failed to report the claim and specifically denied previous injuries to the specific body parts, with the fraudulent statements resulting in a loss to the employer’s insurer of over $87,000.