Richfield construction subcontractor sentenced for insurance fraud

A Richfield construction labor broker was sentenced Monday to three years' probation and temporarily banned from leading future work crews in Minnesota after threatening a worker with deportation and committing insurance fraud in 2017 and 2018.

Fabian Espinosa, owner of Richfield-based Fabian Espinosa Construction LLC, was originally charged in Hennepin County District Court with a third crime: sexually assaulting a female construction worker on his crew in December 2017. That charge was dropped as part of a plea agreement.

On Monday, Judge John Lucas ordered Espinosa to complete 100 hours of community service and pay $1,253 in restitution.

Espinosa is accused of lying to the insurance company that provided workers' compensation coverage for his company while it was working on a construction project in Bloomington. He allegedly told the insurance company he had no employees, but subsequent investigations by the Minnesota Department of Commerce found he had 13 workers on payroll.

The investigation also discovered Espinosa forced one of his workers to lie about a finger injury that occurred on the job in an effort not to have his insurance scheme discovered.

According to court records, Espinosa accompanied the worker to the hospital and threatened that he would tell the hospital police officer on duty that the worker was an undocumented immigrant unless the worker lied about the injury.

Given Espinosa's track record, advocates with the community and worker rights group Centro de Trabajadores Unidos En La Lucha (CTUL) were upset when he was later found working as a labor broker on ThePOINTE Roseville on County Road C, a United Properties housing construction project. United Properties is owned by the Pohlad family.

CTUL President Merle Payne said Monday that hiring Espinosa was the latest example of a big, moneyed property developer hiring a known "problematic contractor" who violated workers rights.

"For more than two years, the Pohlad Family and United Properties have refused to meet with or respond to workers' complaints," CTUL officials said in a statement Monday.

CTUL has asked United Properties to sign onto the Building Dignity and Respect Program, "which is designed to ensure basic labor rights in construction in the Twin Cities metro area, including the right to a workplace free from sexual harassment and sexual assault."

Officials with United Properties, which built the RBC Gateway tower in downtown Minneapolis, said in an email Monday that "our general contractors have no records or evidence that Fabian Espinosa ever worked on any of our job sites."

Through a spokeswoman, United Properties added that it is "firmly committed" to ethical standards and that subcontractors on all projects are "required" to comply with labor laws. If the company learns of an unfair labor practice accusation, "we investigate those accusations ... and when appropriate will stop working with certain subcontractors."