RI Business Owner Steals $93K In Wages From Construction Workers: AG

EAST PROVIDENCE, RI — The owner of an East Providence construction company stole more than $93,000 in wages from his workers, according to Attorney General Peter Neronha.

Marcos Mutz, 48, the owner of the now defunct M. Mutz Construction, was arraigned in Providence Superior Court Wednesday and charged with obtaining money under false pretenses over $1,500, unlawful appropriation over $1,000, providing false certified payroll documents and 12 counts of wage theft.

According to court documents, Mutz failed to pay $93,643 in wages to 12 former employees for work they performed during the construction and renovation of RISE Prep Mayoral Academy in Woonsocket between September 2018 and October 2019. During that time, M. Mutz Construction performed work as a subcontractor under Case Construction Company, the construction manager of the project.

Prosecutors said Mutz was required to pay workers $52.00 per hour. Instead, the defendant paid workers about $30.00 per hour and kept the difference for himself. Mutz used the stolen wages to pay for tools, family medical expenses and personal expenses, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said Mutz also did not pay workers overtime wages, which are required under state law when a worker works more than eight hours in a day or more than 40 hours in a week. Mutz also submitted fake payroll documents to the state, authorities said.

Under Rhode Island law, wage theft violations, unlike all other theft crimes, are misdemeanor crimes regardless of the amount stolen. Neronha said he's repeatedly introduced legislation to make such crimes a felony in Rhode Island, as they are in other states.

"Can anyone seriously dispute that an employer’s alleged theft of nearly $100,000 in wages from hardworking Rhode Islanders by repeatedly refusing to pay them warrants a felony criminal prosecution?" Neronha said in a statement. "And yet year after year, when this Office has introduced legislation to make wage theft a felony, opponents warn of misguided prosecutions involving ‘innocent mistakes.’ This is nonsense. Working men and women in Rhode Island deserve better. They deserve justice. Until prosecutors are no longer required to engage in legal gymnastics to charge as felonies serious crimes against working men and women, this problem will continue. Workers will continue to suffer. Legitimate businesses will continue to be at a competitive disadvantage. And Rhode Island taxpayers will continue to lose. The time to pass our wage theft legislation is now."

Mutz is scheduled to return to court for a pretrial conference on May 24.