There are still many letter carriers who must deliver mail house-to-house on foot, so it’s not hard to believe that one could get injured while making the appointed rounds. But a recent Cleveland.com report exposes one former postal worker, who now must shoulder a $164,000 bill after he defrauded the government by a scheme centered on a fraudulent workers’ compensation claim. (Did he think such exorbitant charges would just get rubber-stamped?)
This 58-year-old postal pilferer really was injured, but at issue is his attempt to con the government into footing the bill for a shoulder injury that he didn’t actually incur on-the-job. (Bowlingor whatever he was doingis not in the job description.) So he simply fudged his story to fit a workers’ compensation claim that asserted he had, in fact, hurt his shoulder while at work. (I say ”en-velope” and you say ”on-velope.”) He then neglected to notify the U.S. Department of Labor after he had returned to work, so he was being paid by the government both to work and not to work. In addition, he submitted hundreds of phony expense reimbursements for medical travel related to his injury. (Double-dipping and then some.)
So the government mailed him straight to prison, where he will stay for the next thirteen months. (He can catch up on his letter writing.) He also owes the Department of Labor $164,000 in restitution. (A worker who expects taxpayers to shoulder the burden of his personal injury is one who eventually will get licked.)
Source: Today’s ”Fraud of the Day” is based on, ”Postal worker sentenced for fraud,” a staff report published by Suffolk News Herald on May 3, 2016.
A former postal worker was sentenced to 13 months in prison for workers’ compensation fraud. He also was ordered to pay nearly $164,000 in restitution to the Department of Labor. Ronald Henderson, 58, of Lewiston, N.C., pleaded guilty to the charge.
Henderson falsely claimed to have injured his shoulder while performing his duties as a mail carrier in Suffolk. In reality, the injury had occurred while he was off duty. In addition to receiving compensation as a result of the false disability claim, Henderson filed hundreds of false travel claims seeking reimbursement for expenses related to obtaining medical treatment. He also failed to notify the Department of Labor after he returned to work.
