Owner of Olympia dry cleaner sentenced to prison for workers’ compensation fraud
A Thurston County judge has ordered the owner of an Olympia dry cleaner to repay $21,725 to the state and serve two years in prison for workers’ compensation fraud.
Byung Sung Kang, 54, pleaded guilty to third-degree theft, a gross misdemeanor, in Thurston County Superior Court on Wednesday. Judge Carol Murphy handed down the prison sentence and fine the same day, about six and a half months after the case was first filed.
Kang must repay the $21,725 to the Washington state Department of Labor and Industries over two years, according to court records.
That’s the amount he accepted from the department for over 14 months as he claimed he could not work due to an on-the-job injury. The money will be returned to the state’s worker’s compensation insurance fund.
During the time he was receiving workers comp, Kang continued to run Century Cleaners, the Olympia business he co-owns with his wife, on Black Lake Boulevard Southwest.
In a news release, Celeste Monahan, acting assistant director of L&I’s Fraud Prevention and Labor Standards division, called Kang’s actions a “blatant case” of someone cheating worker’s compensation and lying about his injuries.
“Stealing workers’ compensation benefits raises costs for honest employers and employees paying into the system,” Monahan said in the release. “Even worse, it takes resources from legitimately injured workers who need to heal and return to work.”
Kang first injured his back in the summer of 2015 while working at his business, per the release. At the time, a doctor assessed he was too injured to work, so L&I started paying him in late 2016 to replace part of his work salary.
From then on, Kang submitted 30 official forms indicating he was still unable to work due to his injury. L&I only started investigating Kang in 2019 after a review of state databases led officials to question Kang’s situation.
That year, an L&I investigator observed Kang at his business for 32 days and interviewed multiple witnesses, the release says.
Court documents indicate the investigator filmed him performing typical tasks such as loading and unloading clothes, scrubbing clothes by hand, helping customers, lifting heavy items, taking garbage to a trash bin and fixing a sign while standing on a ladder.
At one point, the investigator observed Kang working at his shop before undergoing a medical exam. During the exam, Kang reportedly told his doctor that he had not worked since his 2015 injury. Yet court documents say he returned to work after the exam.
Kang was initially arraigned on June 29 and pleaded not guilty to first-degree theft, the Olympian previously reported. He changed his plea on Wednesday.
L&I manages the state’s workers’ compensation insurance system, which supports injured workers. Anyone who suspects fraud can inform the department via its website or by calling 888-811-5974.
