Crime & Safety

Construction Owner Charged With Defrauding Employees

A construction company owner and his foreman were arraigned Monday for allegedly defrauding employees out of $330,000 in wages and keeping the money for themselves from two public works contract, the Orange County district attorney's office reported.

Mustafa Mohamed Bdaiwi, 41, of Irvine, and Antonio Naranjo Jr., 40, of Costa Mesa, are each charged with 11 felony counts of taking and receiving a portion of a worker’s wage on public works project, two felony counts of recording a false and forged instrument, and sentencing enhancements for property loss over $200,000.

According to prosecutors, Bdaiwi owns Malcon Civils Inc. where Naranjo Jr. works as his project administrator. In December 2010 prosecutors said Bdaiwi was awarded a project by the city of Irvine and given contracts to do work at an Irvine elementary school.

Bdaiwi and Naranjo Jr. are accused of constructing a wall, which prosecutors said later began to lean over and had to be removed due to "faulty construction." The men are also accused of being awarded a project by the city of Hemet and embezzling the money meant to be used to pay their workers for the construction.

According to the D.A.'s office, Bdaiwi and Naranjo Jr. also required workers to return a portion of their wages and threatened to terminate their employment if they did not comply.

If convicted on all counts, the men face a maximum sentence of 12 years and four months in state prison, the D.A.'s office reported. Bdaiwi and Naranjo, Jr. are each being held on $330,000 bail. They are scheduled for a pre-trial hearing Jan. 3, 2014 in Santa Ana.

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