San Benito High School’s head varsity soccer coach is one of
four executives at San Andreas HVAC accused of taking kickbacks
from employees working with the company on public works projects
that require prevailing wages. Ramiro N. Ramos, 40, and three
others face charges alleging seven felony counts of taking and
receiving wages of a worker. This is his second year as head
varsity soccer coach.
San Benito High School’s head varsity soccer coach is one of four executives at San Andreas HVAC accused of taking kickbacks from employees working with the company on public works projects that require prevailing wages.
Ramiro N. Ramos, 40, and three others face charges alleging seven felony counts of taking and receiving wages of a worker. The allegations relate to public projects in Santa Clara County between 2004 and 2007 for which San Andreas HVAC won bids. Those projects all required employers to pay the prevailing wage of $54. Prosecutors suspect San Andreas demanded that workers, who ended up making $13.50 an hour, repay most of the money to the business.
Ramos and the others were charged in November. If convicted, he faces up to nine years in prison.
This is his second year as the boys head varsity soccer coach, while the season runs from late November through mid-February.
Ramos confirmed today that he first spoke to a school official – Athletic Director Tod Thatcher – about the allegations in the past week after the charges became public in the media.
“Yeah, they’re aware of it – it’s everywhere,” Ramos told the Free Lance.
He said he had considered informing the school when the charges arose and he had planned to “eventually” disclose the accusations. He also said it should not interfere with the team and that he has not heard anyone express concern about the situation.
“I’m just getting support from people,” Ramos said.
Thatcher did not immediately return a phone call. Principal Krystal Lomanto declined to comment and referred questions to Human Resources Director Shawn Tennenbaum, who did not immediately return a phone call.
Regarding the charges, Ramos declined to comment.
“I can’t talk about it because these are only allegations,” said Ramos, who serves as chief financial officer of the company.
Authorities allege the four men ran what prosecutors called a “kickback scheme” by reporting to the contracting party they paid the prevailing wage as mandated by law. The district attorney’s office suspects that although their employees’ paychecks reflected prevailing wages, the executives attached notes to each stub instructing the workers to return 75 percent of the money.
Besides the allegations of taking wages, two of the men also are suspected of additional counts and face added prison exposure. Hollister’s Carlos N. Ramos, 41, is suspected of perjury or falsely reporting wages on a public works payroll form, along with a violation of workers’ compensation insurance premium fraud. Hollister’s Raul P. Gonzalez, 44, also is accused of discouraging two employees from reporting work-related injuries to doctors leading to their denial of medical care and benefits. The other suspect facing the same charges as Ramiro Ramos is Los Banos’ Antonio Sales, 44.
Ramos joined San Benito High School before the 2008-09 season began. It had been his first coaching job at the high school level after previously heading several youth teams. He succeeded Ben Alvarez, who took over as the girls coach.
