Construction company owner charged with insurance fraud after not reporting injury on job site

The owner of a construction company in Eden Prairie has been charged with one count of insurance fraud after not reporting a worker’s injury on a job site, according to a criminal complaint filed in Hennepin County District Court.

The maximum sentence for insurance fraud is 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $20,000, or both.

According to court documents, Nelson Israel Lopez Giron, 35, committed nearly $20,000 of insurance fraud by misrepresenting his company’s payroll to his insurer to reduce the policy premium.

Giron’s company, Giron Construction LLC, was registered in 2018 in Eden Prairie.

The Minnesota Commerce Fraud Bureau investigation found that when one of his workers was injured on a job site, Giron did not report the injury to his insurer as required.

On February 6, 2020, a worker at the Giron Construction job site in Minnetonka was injured when a nail he was attempting to hammer bounced back and hit him in the eye, according to court records.

As stated in court documents, when Giron learned of the worker’s injury, he did not report it to the insurance company and instead gave the worker eye drops. When the worker said he was going to the doctor, Giron told him to lie about how the injury happened, court documents say.

In July 2020, the worker hired a lawyer and filed a claim with the Minnesota Workers’ Compensation Assigned Risk Plan but was denied the claim after Giron denied knowing who the worker was. Giron’s insurance agency also said a subcontractor of Giron Construction employed the worker, not the parent company itself, according to Hennepin County court records.

Giron’s first court appearance is scheduled for April 20. As of Thursday night, he is not in jail.