Jury Gets 1st Worker’s Comp Fraud Case
Lawyers concluded arguing the county’s first worker’s compensation fraud trial Tuesday and the case was turned over to the jury.
Alan Griffis, 42, of Camarillo is accused of collecting almost $7,000 in disability benefits between April and August, 1993, while continuing to sell computer equipment at BGL Technologies.
Griffis has maintained throughout the six-week trial that he suffered a pinched nerve while moving a file cabinet and was unable to work during those five months.
But prosecutors claim that Griffis took several business trips during that time and that his handwriting appears on 26 work-related documents those five months.
Griffis countered through his attorney that he was merely checking in at the office in Camarillo and making a few telephone calls to help keep the family-owned business running smoothly during his absence.
That should not constitute work, defense attorney George C. Eskin told the jury in closing arguments Tuesday.
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