‘Injured’ man collected $122K in workers’ comp while working on farm, WA officials say
A man said he was “too injured to work” but collected workers’ compensation benefits as he was employed at a dairy farm, Washington officials said.
Now, there’s a warrant out for his arrest.
The 58-year-old man is accused of stealing $122,000 in benefits, the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries said in a March 18 news release.
He initially reported injuring his neck and head in 2006 after chasing a runaway cow at a dairy farm in Skagit County, officials said.
At the time, a doctor confirmed he couldn’t work because of these injuries, officials said.
He collected benefits for over five years.
The man then applied for more benefits in 2020 after reporting a surgery related to the cow incident, officials said.
Labor investigators discovered he collected $122,000 in workers’ compensation while also working at a dairy farm from 2020 to 2023, despite signing documents that said he wasn’t working, officials said.
He made $172,000 from the dairy farm, in addition to the benefits, officials said.
Prosecutors charged the worker with first-degree theft, officials said.
He didn’t show up to his court hearing, so an arrest warrant was issued, officials said.
“When injured workers are dishonest with us about whether they can work, or if they are secretly working, they’re taking money away from real injured workers who need it,” L&I’s assistant director of Fraud Prevention and Labor Standards, Celeste Monahan, said in the release.
Skagit County is in northwestern Washington.
