Ex-county probation officer arrested for alleged workers comp fraud

A former Los Angeles County probation officer was arrested Friday for on suspicion of collecting fraudulent workers compensation payments.

Robyn Palmer, 29, was arrested on 14 felony counts of insurance fraud, forgery, wire fraud and grand theft after a joint investigation by county probation officials, state Department of Insurance investigators and Allstate Insurance, probation officials said.

Palmer had filed claims and received disability insurance benefits for a shoulder injury she said had occurred in July 2013 while restraining a young inmate at a county juvenile hall. But investigators later found she was not at work on the day the injury allegedly occurred, and there were no employee records of a work-related injury, according to a statement by the probation department. Palmer had collected $29,122 in workers comp payments.

Members of a newly created team that investigates workers compensation claims within the probation department audited the claim and noticed the discrepancy in March, officials said.

Palmer was being held Friday at the women’s jail in Lynwood in lieu of $100,000 bail. Probation officials said the case was part of a push to crack down on fraud in the department.

A county employee in another department was arrested last month on suspicion of workers compensation fraud. Parks and Recreation Department employee Susette Boggs, 52, allegedly exaggerated the symptoms she experienced after contracting Lyme disease from a tick bite while working at Placerita Canyon Nature Center in Newhall.

State insurance officials said Boggs was found to have maintained “a physically active lifestyle as a drummer/singer in a band since 2007, in direct conflict with symptoms she reported to her physicians about her physical capabilities.”

She was alleged to have collected $364,932 more than she was entitled to in disability benefits.