A fatal truck crash exposed a San Jose business owner's $460,000 workers' insurance fraud scheme, the Santa Clara District Attorney’s office said Monday.

Prosecutors said 64-year-old Charlie Duong, owner of CD All Roofing, allegedly falsified records about how long and how frequently a deceased employee worked at his company in order to cut worker's compensation benefits to the employee's wife.

On June 19, 2020, four employees from CD All Roofing were returning from a roofing job in two company trucks when the tire of one of the trucks blew out. The driver overcorrected, crashing the truck and ejecting Duong's longtime second-in-command, who died from his injuries.

According to prosecutors, Duong asked a survivor of the accident to lie to investigators about the victim's employment history with the company. Duong is accused of asking the survivor to tell investigators that the victim had only started working at the company a few days before the crash and to say that he only worked part-time.

Instead, the employee told investigators that the victim had actually worked at the company for over eight years.

The District Attorney’s Office also alleges Duong attempted to show that the victim was not even on the job when the crash happened, even though the employees were in company trucks driving back from a job when the accident occurred.

Duong was arraigned today on insurance fraud felonies including falsifying information to avoid insurance premiums.

Each year, losses from workers' compensation fraud in California costs insurance companies $1 to $3 billion, according to prosecutors.