Bonnie M. Dumanis, San Diego County's district attorney, recently announced that two business owners were indicted for an alleged payroll scheme at a local restaurant. According to Patch.com, 61-year-old David Dadon and 27-year-old Barry Dadon face charges of payroll tax evasion, sales tax evasion, compensation premium fraud and grand theft of labor from 23 employees. David was also indicted on one count of fraudulent removal of property under a lease and two counts of attempted extortion.

The source reported that over the course of two years, David and Barry hired more than 20 servers and cooks for employment at State Street Grill, however, they refused to pay them after one week's worth of work. They did pay some of the individuals $5 per hour, however.

According to ABC affiliate KGTV, the defendants also collected about $108,000 in sales tax from their customer's bills and kept it for themselves.

"The defendants in this case repeatedly took advantage of victims who were in desperate need of income and who accepted an offer to work during a 'trainee period," Dumanis stated. "The estimated loss in this case exceeds $350,000 and we're encouraging any additional victims of this heartless scheme to come forward."

Son released on bail bond
Barry pleaded not guilty to his charges and was released on April 4 on a $200,000 bail bond. David faces up to 21 years in prison, while Barry faces up to 18 years. Each of them also might have to pay restitution to the victims if they are convicted of their charges. The two were caught after the California Labor Commissioner's Criminal Investigation Unit initiated the original investigation of State Street Grill before turning it over to the district attorney's Insurance Fraud Division.

Investigators believe that there might be up to an additional 50 victims that have yet to come forward. Labor Commissioner Julie Su said the case is being used as an example to other employers who attempt to skimp on wages.

"This is wage theft, pure and simple," she said. "All workers in California are entitled to a just day's pay for a hard day's work, and in this case, dozens of employees had their wages stolen right out of their pockets. With this case, we are sending a clear message that such cases will be treated as the crimes that they are."