MILWAUKEE COUNTY

Landscape company owner indicted on fraud counts

FBI investigated Cedarburg Landscaping owner Scott Devereux on fraud counts

John Diedrich
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The owner of a Mequon-based landscaping company has been indicted in federal court on allegations of failing to pay the state and federal prevailing wage to his workers.

Scott Devereux, 51, owner of Cedarburg Landscaping, was indicted on six counts of fraud and 10 counts of filing false documents with the government, according to an indictment handed down Wednesday by a grand jury in Milwaukee.

Devereux's attorney did not immediately return a call for comment.

According to the indictment:

Companies like Cedarburg Landscaping, which did work for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, are required by law to pay their employees at a prevailing wage rate set under state law for all hours worked on projects. On projects where federal funds are involved, contractors must pay their employees at prevailing federal or state wage rates, whichever is higher.

Cedarburg Landscaping was a party to the collective bargaining agreement with the Wisconsin Laborers Union and was required to contribute money to pay for certain fringe benefits for employees.

Between March 2014 and August 2015, Devereux allegedly paid workers below the prevailing wage and overstated the hourly wages he was paying employees on reports he submitted.

Devereux filed false paperwork on three different projects: on Appleton Ave., S. 27th St. and in Oconomowoc.

According to a search warrant unsealed earlier in federal court:

Cedarburg Landscaping was awarded two dozen highway contracts between 2012 and 2015 totaling about $60 million.

One worker told investigators he was paid between $12 and $15 an hour in 2013 and between $17 and $21 in 2014. He joined the union in 2013, which required he be paid roughly $23 an hour plus $20 in fringe benefits.

Anyone who complained about the rate was given undesirable tasks by Devereux, the worker said.

The union sued Cedarburg Landscaping in 2012, claiming it failed  to pay into various funds.

If convicted, Devereux faces 20 years on each fraud count and five years on each false document count, though under sentencing guidelines he would receive much less time. The FBI's Milwaukee office investigated the case.