When criminals commit fraud, they do it under false pretenses. (They are lying about who they are or what they are doing in order to gain what they do not deserve.) A story posted on CorrectionsOne.com tells about a man who failed to disclose that he was working and receiving income while officially declared to be permanently disabled. (It’s never a good idea to moonlight while receiving benefits from the government.)
The article reports that the man suffered a job-related injury while working as a correctional officer. He was evaluated over several years by multiple doctors and a judge declared him totally disabled six years after the injury occurred. (He was able to collect workers’ compensation, assault pay and retirement benefits totaling more than 100 percent of what he was making as a correctional officer.)
The story goes on to say that while he was collecting government benefits for his injury, he also was working and receiving income from a car dealership registered in his wife’s name. (As you might guess, he failed to report the additional income to the government.) As a result of his illegal actions, he was overpaid $423,000 in workers’ compensation benefits, assault pay, retirement benefits and Social Security benefits.
The 42-year-old man pleaded guilty to workers’ compensation fraud and larceny. He was ordered to complete five years of probation and pay more than $305,000 in restitution. (What about the other $118,000?) His business partner also pleaded guilty to larceny and paid $22,230 in restitution.
Workers’ compensation is supposed to pay benefits to those individuals who are unable to work because of work related injuries. Because this fraudster operated under false pretenses, he was able to scam his employer, his doctors and a judge. (He’s lucky he got off with probation and did not serve any jail time.) Let’s hope this criminal understands that when you lie to the government, you will eventually be caught.
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