Disability Fraud Results in 6-Month Jail Sentence
A 33-year-old Simi Valley man has been given a six-month jail term after feigning a disability resulting from a workplace accident, authorities said Wednesday.
Michael Randolph, a former gardener for the city of Los Angeles, claimed he suffered a severe back and shoulder injury in a 1996 fall from a truck.
While receiving disability benefits in 1998, he was videotaped carrying furniture, a bed, boxes and a bicycle with no signs of pain, according to a spokesman for the Ventura County district attorney’s office.
An investigation by state insurance officials and local prosecutors also found that Randolph had failed to disclose a previous back injury and a previous workers’ compensation claim.
Randolph pleaded guilty in November to one count of workers’ compensation insurance fraud. He was sentenced Tuesday by Superior Court Judge Bruce Clark to 180 days in jail and five years’ probation.
He also is required to pay the city of Los Angeles more than $61,000 in restitution.
From Times Staff Reports
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