Shelby County District Attorney Bill Gibbons, Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development Commissioner James G. Neeley, and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director Mark Gwyn announced Friday that a Memphis business owner had been indicted for workers’ compensation fraud.  The state grand jury for Shelby County indicted Richard Nobles (also known as Mike Nobles) for four counts of workers’ compensation fraud over $60,000 (a class B felony). TBI agents and Shelby County Sheriff’s deputies worked jointly to apprehend Nobles Wednesday evening. He is being held without bond. An arraignment date has been set for November 16.

Nobles, 58, owns several subcontract labor companies including Xpress Services, Express Services, Labor Fast, Fast Track Systems, and CSI Services, Inc. The address on record for each of the businesses is 5425 Elvis Presley Boulevard. Nobles’ companies provide workers for various construction jobs, primarily for dry wall work.

According to the indictment, Nobles underreported the annual amount of payroll for his various companies with intent to defraud four separate insurance companies of workers’ compensation premiums due them: Travelers Insurance Company, Berkley Regional Insurance, Work First Casualty Company, and Ullico Casualty. The four counts of fraud allegedly took place from January 2006 through July 2010. The total amount of unpaid premiums is more than $1 million dollars.

“Mr. Nobles was obligated to pay workers’ compensation premiums on all of his employees. We contend he failed to do so by falsifying his payroll records. This is a serious offense under our state law,” said District Attorney Gibbons.  This case was investigated by the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.