Too injured to work? The state caught him installing roofs and made him pay back thousands
Lakewood roofer Patrick Dean Farthing injured his shoulder in 2010 and said he could no longer work. As a result, Washington state began paying him workers compensation benefits in 2014.
But it was all a lie.
Farthing, 64, was seen and photographed walking on roofs, removing tiles and moving construction equipment and heavy materials long after his supposed medical retirement. He was operating a roofing business while he collected $35,572 in workers’ compensation benefits from the state Department of Labor & Industries (L&I).
“This is a blatant case of someone working in a physically demanding job, and lying about it to get cash benefits,” said Celeste Monahan, assistant director of L&I’s Fraud Prevention and Labor Standards division.
Farthing recently pleaded guilty to third-degree theft — a gross misdemeanor.
Investigation
Following a tip, L&I investigators began looking into Farthing in 2018. The Washington State Attorney General’s Office prosecuted the case.
Farthing took the payments from 2014 to early 2021.
Thurston County Superior Court Judge Anne Egeler sentenced Farthing to 20 days in jail, but allowed him to serve time on electronic home monitoring.
Farthing’s medical provider determined his injury prevented him from working and Farthing regularly declared to L&I that he wasn’t working.
Farthing sometimes did business as Pat Farthing Roofing or used the alias Adam Lay in Spanaway, Olympia and other locales. L&I issued him two civil infractions for unregistered contracting. The penalties totaled $5,000 and he paid the fines this year.
