The New York State Inspector General’s office announced last week that Jeremiah Wiedemann, the owner of Wiedemann Sons Roofing in upstate Northampton, N.Y., was sentenced in connection with an attempted cover-up of an on-the-job employee death.

According to the Inspector General’s office, on May 12, 2023, the Northville Police Department responded to a 911 call from Wiedemann, reporting a person “had fallen” near the Batchellerville Bridge in Saratoga County. The victim was airlifted to Albany Medical Center, where he later died of his injuries, authorities said in the June 17 news release.

Law enforcement investigators determined that Wiedemann had moved the victim to a different location to conceal that the victim had been working for Wiedemann in Northampton at the time of his accident, according to the IG’s report. Wiedemann had not purchased workers’ compensation insurance and directed other crew members to “clean up the scene of the injury” to further obscure the work-related nature of the accident.

Multiple agencies investigated and discovered that the worker was injured at a construction site where Wiedemann’s company was replacing a roof, authorities said. The construction site in Northampton, about 60 miles northeast of Albany, was around five miles from the bridge. The victim was lying in and out of consciousness when rescue workers arrived, according to authorities.

"This defendant went to egregious lengths to conceal his decision to prioritize profits over people, rather than complying with the law to protect workers in the event of workplace injury,” Lucy Lang, the New York State Inspector General, said in a statement. 

"Workers’ compensation insurance provides a critical safety net for New York’s workforce, and this tragic case [reinforces] our commitment to holding accountable any bosses who would do any less," she added.

Wiedemann was charged with tampering with physical evidence and failure to secure workers’ compensation. Wiedemann, 43, pled guilty to Tampering with Physical Evidence, a Class E felony, and Failure to Secure Workers’ Compensation, a misdemeanor, and was sentenced to five years’ probation and ordered to pay a fine on June 10 in Fulton County Supreme Court.