Workers' Comp Fraud Blotter 12/18/2009 - Recent Arrests, Charges, Convictions & Investigations

Each week we'll be surveying what the media, state agencies, insurance companies, and others report in terms of workers' comp fraud. Just like a police blotter, our workers' comp fraud blotter lists recent arrests, charges, convictions and investigations.

Workers' Comp Fraud Blotter – December 18, 2009

State Park Worker Charged With Workers’ Comp Fraud (NY) – Michael Boyd, a State park employee who claimed a back injury, but continued to work and collect insurance benefits, was charged with multiple felony counts in a case of workers’ compensation fraud against the New York State Insurance Fund. Read more

Vista City Councilman’s Case Turned Over to Workers’ Comp Fraud Unit (CA) – The Workers’ Compensation Fraud Unit of the San Diego County District Attorney’s office is investigating the case of Frank Lopez, Jr., a Vista City Councilman, for alleged check fraud with respect to bad checks written to employees at his restaurant. Read more

Watertown Man Accused of 7 Year Fraud (CT) – Timothy P. Brown has been charged with fraudulently collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars in workers' compensation payments for a back injury in 2001. The warrant states that Brown held jobs as a delivery driver without informing the insurance company that he was capable of returning to work. Read more

Ex-Folsom Prison Guard Convicted of Disability Fraud (CA) – June Ann Lucena, a former prison guard who filed a workers’ compensation claim in 1999 and a claim for disability retirement with CalPERS, was filmed on water slides and riding a jet ski. Lucena was convicted of disability fraud and ordered to pay CalPERS more than $244,000 in restitution. Read more

Roofing Company Owner Failed to Pay Over $119,000 in Workers’ Comp Insurance (MA) – Richard Copeland, the owner of a contracting and roofing company, pled guilty in Suffolk Superior Court in connection with not paying the proper workers’ compensation insurance by misclassifying his employees and filing false tax returns over a five-year period. Read more

Lawyer Found in Contempt for Not Paying Workers’ Comp Benefits to Employee (RI) – Attorney Keven A. McKenna was found in contempt of court for not abiding by an order to pay his former employee Sumner D. Stone workers’ compensation benefits for headaches and back pain Stone says he suffered after McKenna pushed him and put him in a headlock. Read more

State Sues Car Wash for $2.6 Million for Workplace and Workers’ Comp Violations (CA) – California Attorney General Jerry Brown has sued Auto Spa Express, Inc. in Los Angeles for $2.6 million for allegedly illegally forcing employees to work nearly 60-hour weeks without overtime, ignoring minimum wage laws and denying injured employees workers' compensation benefits. Read more

Lakewood Woman Ordered to Repay $58,600 in Workers’ Comp Benefits (WA) – Rebecca Anderson-Clements of Lakewood was ordered in Pierce County Superior Court to repay $58,600 in workers’ compensation benefits to the Washington State Dept. of Labor & Industries. Anderson-Clements pled guilty Dec. 9 to one count of theft after a joint investigation between L&I and the Social Security Administration revealed she was illegally collecting state workers’ compensation benefits and federal Social Security benefits. Read more

Former Corrections Officer Surrenders to Authorities to Face Workers’ Comp Fraud Charges (NY) – Donald Walker, a former New York State corrections officer who owned two Subway sandwich shops in Delaware while collecting workers’ compensation benefits from the New York State Insurance Fund, surrendered to authorities in Suffolk County to face workers’ compensation fraud charges. Read more

Hospital Under Investigation for Handling of Workers’ Comp Claim (NC) – The North Carolina Dept. of Insurance is currently investigating Mission Hospital ’s handling of an employee’s workers’ compensation claim, this after a deputy commissioner at the North Carolina Industrial Commission ruled in September that the hospital acted fraudulently in handling an employee’s workers’ compensation claim. Read more