MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – David B. Taylor was arrested for the second time this month on a workers comp fraud charge, this time in Miami-Dade County.
According to an arrest affidavit, he was taken into custody last Tuesday.
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The roofing contractor is once again accused of violating a Stop Work Order issued by the Florida Department of Financial Services.
The Stop Work Order:
Last month, the Call Christina team was first to explain the state-issued Stop Worker Order related to a workers comp case.
The department issued a final order, saying that until a $279,538.66 penalty was paid in full and proof of compliance was provided, "Employer shall immediately cease all business operations in the state of Florida."
A referral was made to the Division of Insurance Fraud as a result of the Division of Workers' Compensation investigation of the employer for violating section 440, F.S.
Broward Arrest:
Earlier this month, Taylor was arrested in Broward County. According to a probable cause affidavit, Taylor knowingly violated that stop work order by performing roof repair work under Taylor Contracting and Roofing at a Fort Lauderdale church.
Related Link: Combative roofing contractor speaks to Call Christina following arrest
"I got arrested for working -- big whoopie doo," Taylor told investigative reporter Christina Vazquez in the days following that arrest. "It's terrible hiring illegal people, but I happen to love my Latino people and I've worked with them for 15 years. A lot of them are not legal and that's what happened to me, and I am going to make that right with the state."
Miami-Dade Arrest:
This time Taylor was arrested in Miami-Dade County. Investigators note that after subpoenaing a bank account belong to Taylor's company Taylor Contracting and Roofing, "there were several entities issuing checks made payable to Taylor Contracting and Roofing, Inc," one of which the investigator notes was a homeowners association located in Hialeah.
"FS 440.105(a)3 states that it shall be unlawful for any employer to knowingly fail to secure workers' compensation coverage if required to do so by statue," investigators stated.
AG Investigation & The Beach Club:
Meantime, the Attorney General's Office is now looking into bid rigging allegations at the West Miami-Dade condo complex The Beach Club at Fontainebleau Park. They are investigating whether any anti-trust laws have been violated.
Related Link: Attorney General's Office investigating Beach Club bid rigging allegations
You may recall condo owners at The Beach Club reached out to Call Christina with concerns about what they described as irregularities in the bid process.
Taylor submitted the bid for that Beach Club job using a new company name while that Stop Work Order was in place.
According to the Department of Financial Services, if Taylor were to start a new company, a so-called successor stop worker order would be issued to the new company.
Yet checks obtained by the Call Christina team show payments made to D&T General Contracting by The Beach Club at the time the stop work order was in effect.
The Department of Business and Professional Regulation allowed Taylor to continue working at The Beach Club as a qualifier for a company called Icon Contracting Services.
The Beach Club's new board recently hired attorney Russell Jacobs, who said investigators with the Florida Attorney General's Office, "Are subpoenaing us for documents right now relating to all of the contracts."
Jacobs went on to say: "The whole thing is disgusting when you think about it. This is a situation where a contractor and several other people have taken advantage of an association. There are a group of poor people who really don't have a lot of money and it's made very clear, at least from the documents that I have seen, that they created a scheme to present themselves as three separate contractors, when in fact it's really all connected to one."
In an interview that was at times both combative and candid, Taylor told Vazquez: "My contract is solid there and they are not going to get anyone to do the work cheaper ... what's going to happen is if they fire me we are going to sue them and they are going to be in a worse situation."