S.J. man charged in job-training scheme

Suspect, who ran vocational program, charged with stealing over $650K in workers’ comp funds

SAN JOSE >> A man who ran a vocational school in Campbell has been charged with running a scheme in which he allegedly bribed counselors to send him injured workers for “job training,” and then pocketed hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of workers’ compensation benefits.

Moreover, during the time prosecutors believe he was committing the fraud, Rashad Said, 62, was serving on the San Jose Regional Workforce Development Board, which approves which vocational schools receive public job-training funds to help displaced workers, including the people Said allegedly exploited.

“This money, earmarked to help get injured people back into the workforce, ended up siphoned off and spread around to profit the defendant,” said Julie Sousa, a Santa Clara County deputy district attorney who works insurance fraud cases. “The fraud left injured and vulnerable people out of work and untrained.”

Said, who lives in San Jose, was arraigned Wednesday on charges related to workers’ compensation fraud and did not enter a plea. He is out of jail and is scheduled to return to court Nov. 11.

“Once all the evidence is in, we believe Mr. Said will be seen as not guilty of these charges,” said Edward N. Ajlouny, the defendant’s attorney. “We will wage a vigorous defense and do our best to convince DA of that.”

Sousa said the defendant took advantage of state vouchers for workers injured on the job who no longer can perform their duties. The vouchers pay up to $10,000 for tuition, equipment, educational materials and vocational training. Up to 10% of those voucher funds can be used for vocational counseling.

That’s where prosecutors contend Said found his supply of victims, giving kickbacks to counselors to send their workers’ compensation clients to his company, Advanced Vocational Institute. But the workers did not receive any training, and instead were given undisclosed amounts of cash, presumably to keep them quiet. Sousa said the affected

workers often spoke minimal English and were not fully aware of the arrangement.

She added that investigators “could not find any evidence anyone was taking any classes,” and that at best, two out of about 100 affected workers had taken classes with Said’s company. But even then, she said, they were reportedly “online with no live interaction.”

Adding to the suspicion was the fact that DA investigators visiting the site of Said’s office location on a weekday found the site closed, and upon peering inside saw computers covered in dust, Sousa said.

All told, Said is accused of collecting more than $650,000 in illegally diverted funds.

The fraud case was the product of a separate but similar case involving another vocational training firm, Career Advancement Solutions, an investigation carried out after a student whose wrist injury caused

her to stop taking a class was denied a refund of her voucher funds.

The complaint led to charges against that school’s owner in Spring 2018. But in the course of prosecuting that case, the DA’s Office found records of payments from Said’s company to a counselor there. An investigation was launched that summer that culminated in the charges filed against Said in April and read out in court for the first time this past week.