Huntington Beach Man Guilty of Conspiracy, Fraud

A Huntington Beach man was found guilty in federal court of conspiracy and mail fraud stemming from a scheme to bilk the state and insurance companies of $2.7 million in workers’ compensation funds.

A U.S. District Court jury in Los Angeles returned the verdict late Wednesday against Robert J. Anderson, 52. Four others, including a former Carson mayor and a former Downey police reserve officer, pleaded guilty previously and will be sentenced over the next three months.

Anderson faces a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison and a $1.25-million fine. He is scheduled to be sentenced April 22.

Assistant U.S. Attys. Jennifer T. Lum and David Z. Seide said the five defendants operated their scheme through four dummy corporations from 1987 through 1990.

The defendants fraudulently listed temporary employees at jobs carrying low insurance rates when the employees actually were working at companies that carried a high risk of employee injuries. The companies should have paid about $22 million more in workers’ compensation insurance premiums, the prosecutors said.

As it was, the defendants billed the companies for premiums and underpaid the insurance carriers, pocketing $2.7 million.

The other defendants include John L. Junk, 59, who was mayor of Carson in 1969-70, and Howard J. Laird, 63, a former Downey reserve officer who became a fugitive but was arrested last April in a traffic stop outside Tucson, Ariz.