Logger pretending to be hurt for benefits caught dancing, exercising, WA agency says
.jpg "A logger must repay over $160,000 and serve 60 days of home detention after being accused of faking injuries to receive workers’ compensation, Washington officials said on July 20, 2022.")
A logger caught faking injuries to receive workers’ compensation benefits was seen exercising and dancing, Washington officials said.
The 53-year-old man was sentenced to 60 days of home detention and must repay the $163,566 he collected in benefits from January 2018 to January 2020, the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries said in a July 20 news release.
The man, of Kalama, reported injuring his leg in 2006 after he was struck by a tree, the agency said. Then a year later, he reported injuring his back while “using a wedge to fell a tree,” the department said.
His medical provider told the department he couldn’t work because of these injuries so he was eligible to get benefits.
The department said the man submitted forms regularly stating he couldn’t work because of these injuries.
But anonymous videos submitted to the agency showed the man walking “briskly” uphill in 2019. A social media video taken that same year showed him dancing while moving his hips from side-to-side.
These movements were “inconsistent with his medically prescribed restrictions,” the agency said.
During this same time, he is accused of limping and walking slowly while at medical appointments or when he thought he was under surveillance, officials said.
Once his medical provider reviewed the videos, it said he was able to walk in March 2016.
“The workers’ comp system is intended to help injured workers heal and get back to work— not line the pockets of cheaters,” assistant director of the department’s Fraud Prevention and Labor Standards division Celeste Monahan said in the release.
This story was originally published July 20, 2022 at 1:45 PM with the headline "Logger pretending to be hurt for benefits caught dancing, exercising, WA agency says."
