A Columbus man on disability benefits for a workplace injury must reimburse the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) $35,000 after investigators found him collecting and selling 46 tons of scrap metal during a time he purported to be disabled.
Richard Claffey, 53, pleaded guilty to a fifth-degree felony count of workers’ compensation fraud in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas. In addition to restitution, he must serve five years of community control in lieu of six months in prison.
“An anonymous source told us Mr. Claffey was ‘junking’ everyday, picking up refrigerators and stoves and driving through alleys every evening to collect metal and sell it to local scrap yards,” said Jim Wernecke, director of BWC’s Special Investigations Department (SID). “Some might call ‘junking’ more of a hobby than a profession, but we found Mr. Claffey made a living from these efforts, which disqualified him from receiving BWC benefits.”
Claffey suffered a workplace injury in 2010 while working for a landscaping company.
Source: Ohio BWC
Topics Workers' Compensation Ohio
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