St. Charles man accused of defrauding union

A St. Charles man who owns a construction company based on the southwest side of Chicago is facing federal fraud charges after prosecutors said he paid cash to nonunion workers and underreported their hours to lessen the company's required union benefits contributions.

Yashvant C. Patel, 59, was arrested Friday, prosecutors said.

In the indictment, Patel is accused of hiring nonunion employees - including some undocumented workers - and paying them cash in order to reduce his construction company's obligations to his union employees' benefit fund.

Prosecutors said Patel shorted that benefit fund $600,000 and paid $1.3 million less to the company's employees than required by the union's collective-bargaining agreement. Patel is also accused of underreporting work performed by his employees by 33,000 hours between January 2009 and October 2010, according to court papers.

Patel owns My Baps Construction Corp., a concrete and asphalt contractor, and oversaw the operations and finances of a sister company called Vijay Construction Corp., prosecutors said.

Patel made his first court appearance Friday morning. Attempts to reach Patel and other company officials were unsuccessful. Phone numbers for both businesses are disconnected.

Patel faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison if convicted.