Coach Charged With Insurance Fraud

County prosecutors charged a 31-year-old Ventura man Friday with insurance fraud and perjury, alleging that he collected about $20,000 in disability checks while running plays as a youth football coach and playing softball and golf.

Matthew Rosene turned himself in to district attorney investigators Friday morning and was freed on $10,000 bail from Ventura County Jail, authorities said.

He is charged with four counts of insurance fraud and one count of perjury over comments he allegedly made in a sworn statement for the state Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board, they said. The fraud allegedly lasted for about one year, beginning in March 1997.

Claiming back and shoulder pain after falling on a staircase, Rosene received state disability checks for about a year while off his job as an office-based salesman for Blue Cross Insurance in Newbury Park, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Terry Kilbride.

“His job consisted of answering a phone and putting information into a computer,” Kilbride said. “So why can’t he do that when he can go out and run around a ball field?”

Prosecutors have a three-hour videotape showing Rosene running plays with youth players and throwing a football, Kilbride said.

“He was very active,” the prosecutor said. “We also have witnesses that have him playing softball in a league at Camino Real Park and playing golf.”

State law prohibits a person from making false statements to receive disability checks and requires truthful testimony under oath. If convicted, Rosene faces a maximum of eight years in prison.