Three residents of Washington State have been caught and charged with workers' compensation fraud. The Washington Attorney General’s Office prosecuted the cases based on investigations by the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (L&I).
False Injury Claim During Shoplifter Chase
Sulia Hernandez Carranza, 51, of Richland, Wash., pleaded guilty to second-degree theft, agreeing there was enough evidence for a jury to convict her.
Superior Court Judge Bruce Spanner sentenced Carranza to 30 days in jail, but allowed her to serve the time by electronic home monitoring or working on a county crew. He also ordered her to repay the state $11,142, the total amount of benefits she received by falsely claiming she was injured on the job.
Carranza worked as a loss prevention specialist at a Pasco grocery store when she claimed she injured her knee while chasing a shoplifter in May 2014, charging papers said. Last year, Carranza apologized to her employer, saying she falsely filed an L&I workers’ comp claim to get treatment for a preexisting knee problem.
Hiding Job From L&I
Superior Court Judge Ellen J. Fair accepted Marlo Diana Johnston's guilty plea to second-degree theft, sentenced her to 20 days in jail, and agreed to convert the time to 160 hours of community service. Johnston, 29, is from Everett, Wash.
The judge scheduled a hearing for Feb. 22 to determine the amount of restitution she must pay the state. The original charging documents alleged she stole more than $16,000 in wage replacement payments.
Johnston was accused of stealing wage replacement payments while signing official L&I documents that stated she wasn't working because of a workplace injury. An L&I investigation, however, found she was working as an aesthetician at a medical services spa in Edmonds from September 2012 through February 2013.
Johnston began receiving L&I benefits after hurting her left hand in an on-the-job injury at a Bellevue salon and spa in 2007. Her physician had approved her to receive wage-replacement checks, but according to charging papers, Johnston didn’t tell the doctor when she returned to work.
It’s illegal for injured workers to receive wage-replacement payments while falsely claiming they are unable to work and haven’t been working due to an on-the-job injury.
Records Check Uncovers Double-Dipping
A Tacoma-area man faces a felony theft charge after he was caught working while receiving more than $81,000 in workers’ compensation disability payments. Bobby R. Johnson, 47, has been charged with first-degree theft. He’s scheduled to be arraigned in Pierce County Superior Court on Friday, Aug. 19.
Johnson originally injured his lower back and chest when he fell on an icy parking lot at a recreational vehicle company in Poulsbo. The investigation started when a routine cross-check of L&I and state Employment Security records showed Johnson was employed at the same time he was receiving wage-replacement payments from L&I.
According to charging papers, Johnson received $81,453 in workers’ compensation payments over a two-year period starting in March 2013. To receive the checks, Johnson signed official forms declaring he did not, and could not, work due to his on-the-job injury. Physicians also confirmed he was unable to work.
The L&I investigation, however, found that Johnson was working as a home caregiver throughout the two-year time span, and as a salesman for stints at two RV companies. At an RV show in the spring of 2015, an L&I undercover investigator saw Johnson walking and moving freely as he showed trailers to customers, and overheard him say he worked long hours all weekend long, selling a “good amount” of trailers, charging papers said.