David Lawrence Polk, 53, and Douglas Minoru Tateoka, 61, were entrusted to manage — and ultimately safeguard — the hardworking employees at a Salinas, Calif. paper manufacturing facility. At least outwardly, they appeared to be succeeding. Workers' compensation claims were minimal, and employees didn't seem to require much time off work. Then a slew of grievances involving abuse of the workers' compensation system started trickling in.

Now the former managers of the Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation's Salinas plant await sentencing after pleading guilty in Monterey County Superior Court on March 25, 2010 to denying the workers' compensation benefits to which their injured employees were entitled.

"Discouraging injured workers from seeking proper medical care is simply unacceptable," commented Calif. Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, in a press release regarding the case.

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