Sooner or later, the law catches up with most people that try and scam the system.
In a recent Ohio case, a Cincinnati (Hamilton County) man reportedly owes the state’s Bureau of Workers Compensation (BWC) more than $100,000 in workers comp benefits he received while employed as a janitor, a job he got using a fake ID.
John Monday, aka John Turner, pleaded guilty to fraud in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas in early November.
“Mr. Monday clearly took deliberate steps to conceal his employment, and worse, he claimed to be permanently disabled, a designation reserved for only the most severely injured,” stated BWC Administrator/CEO Steve Buehrer. “Our investigators did an outstanding job, and we are especially grateful to the Spine Institute for turning over information that allowed us to put an end to Mr. Monday’s deception.”
An Alias That Did Not Work
BWC’s Special Investigations Department (SID) opened an investigation after receiving information from the Cincinnati Spine Institute that Monday has been working for their office performing janitorial services for more than 20 years under the name of John Turner.
SID learned that Monday, under his alias of John Turner, sought after hours’ treatment for pain from a physician at the Spine Institute, where he worked as a janitor. He told this physician that he already had a physician who treated him for injuries related to a previous workers’ comp claim. Monday then stated his intention to change physicians and supplied his medical records to the physician who treated him afterhours.
Monday later realized the records were under his real name, John Monday, and asked the office not to file the most recent visit with BWC because he was not supposed to be working.
SID later learned that Monday worked as a janitor at the Cincinnati Spine Institute since 1990 while receiving permanent total disability and disabled workers’ relief fund benefits. Monday used an Ohio driver’s license and a state Identification card under the name John Turner in order to obtain employment at the Spine Institute while on workers’ comp.
Defendant Ordered to Pay $105K in Restitution
Monday was found guilty of one felony count of workers comp fraud and the judge proceeded immediately to sentencing.
Monday was ordered to pay restitution of $105,169.23, in addition to court costs and $3,692.84 for investigative costs. He was also placed on community control for five years under the conditions that he has no new convictions and establishes an income within 60 days.
If Monday violates the terms of his community control, he will serve 18 months in prison.
Author Kori Shafer-Stack, Editor, Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. is an expert in post-injury response procedures and part of the Amaxx team helping companies reduce their workers compensation costs by 20% to 50%. www.reduceyourworkerscomp.com. Contact: [email protected].
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