Luis F. Estrada, Lying to OSHA, Connecticut 2023

A Bridgeport, Connecticut man has pleaded guilty to making false statements and submitting false documents to OSHA while the agency conducted an investigation into a job site he controlled.

Luis F. Estrada, 47, who owns L.L.E. Construction, LLC, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden in Bridgeport to making false statements to the U.S. Department of Labor.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Estrada was paid $11,000 in February and March of 2018 for performing roof repairs and other construction services at a property located on Main Street in Bridgeport.

On March 1, 2018, a compliance officer with OSHA visited the property and observed what he believed to be various safety infractions by construction workers making the roof repairs. Estrada was not present at the Main Street property at the time, but spoke to the compliance officer by mobile phone.

On May 22, 2018, OSHA compliance officers served Estrada with a subpoena that demanded documents and records related to L.L.E. Construction’s work at the Main Street property in February and March of 2018. Estrada later hand-delivered a written response stating that he did not do any work for the ‘LLE Roofing Project,’ that there was no payroll because he did not work on the ‘LLE Roofing Project,’ and that he did not have any contract or any documents regarding the ‘LLE Roofing Project.’

In pleading guilty to one count of making false statements to the U.S. Department of Labor, Estrada admitted that he lied in his written statements and that he later lied in a deposition convened as part of the OSHA investigation into the suspected safety violations at the site.

Estrada faces a maximum term of imprisonment of five years. He was released on a $75,000 bond pending sentencing. The matter is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General and the OSHA Criminal Investigations Team, Region 1. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Margaret M. Donovan.

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