Man Held on Charges of Filing False Worker Injury Claims
A man from Hacienda Heights in custody on 17 felony counts of insurance fraud stemming from allegedly false workers’ compensation claims, authorities said.
Robert E. Contreras, 46, was being held in the Los Angeles County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail after his arrest last week by fraud investigators from the Department of Insurance, department spokeswoman Lisa Acheson said.
The charges follow a yearlong investigation that uncovered seven claims filed by Contreras that garnered him more than $228,000, Acheson said.
The investigation began with a 1990 claim, officials said.
Contreras alleged he was injured while working as a nursing attendant at County-USC Medical Center, when he tried to restrain a violent patient.
As a result of the claim, he received $76,000 in payments, officials said.
He then filed six more claims using two different Social Security numbers against six other employers.
“Each time he failed to mention the previous claim,” Acheson said.
In addition, he filed 10 other workers’ compensation claims between 1981 and 1989, investigators said.
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