Bridgeport Business Owner Lied To OSHA: Feds

Bridgeport CT

18 March, 2022

8:02 AM

Description

BRIDGEPORT, CT — A Bridgeport man was sentenced Thursday to home confinement for lying to federal officials about his business, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut. Luis F. Estrada, 48, received three years of probation, six months of which must be served in home confinement, after making false statements to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration while the agency investigated a job site he controlled, the news release said. Estrada was also ordered to do 250 hours of community service, according to the news release. Estrada is the owner of L.L.E. Construction LLC, and in February 2018, he and the company entered into a contract to perform roof repairs and other construction at a property on Main Street, the news release said. In February and March of that year, Estrada was provided with three checks totaling $11,000 for the work, according to the news release, but on March 1, 2018, a compliance officer with OSHA visited the property and saw what he believed to be safety infractions. OSHA compliance officers served Estrada in May 2018 with a subpoena that demanded documents and records related to L.L.E. Construction's work at the Main Street property, the news release said. Two months later, Estrada hand-delivered a written response stating that he "did not do any work for the 'LLE Roofing Project,'" that "[t]here is no payroll because [he] did not work on the 'LLE Roofing Project,'" and that he "do[es] not have any contract or anydocuments regarding the 'LLE Roofing Project,'" according to the news release. Estrada pleaded guilty in March 2021 to making false statements to the U.S. Department of Labor, admitting he lied in his written statements on July 30, 2018, and that he later lied in a deposition, the news release said.