No one likes a double-dipper, as your humble blogger’s oft-referenced show clearly pointed out.  Workers’ compensation, in particular, suffers double-dippers not at all!  A Redlands man is being charged with just that – not soiling the salsa or contaminating the punch, but working while receiving disability benefits.

Andres Gonzalez, according to InstantRiverside.com, is being charged with collecting disability benefits after (allegedly) sustaining an injury while working for a small business, while, at the same time, working as a self-employed gardener.  It appears that Mr. Gonzalez may have “misrepresented his abilities to work and to perform certain tasks.”

Mr. Gonzalez was arrested and is out on $50,000 bail.  The arraignment is scheduled for March 1.

As your ever-justice-thirsty blogger has remarked in the past, these fraud cases are a lose-lose for the law-abiding citizenry.  By the time of the arrest, a fraudster will have already spent his or her money, or, in the alternative, use that money to fund his or her criminal defense.  In either case, that employers, insurers, and law enforcement budgets will never see that money restored.  Usually, a substantial portion of jail time is given away in exchange for a tiny portion of the money in restitution.

Hopefully, when fraudsters file claims in the future, past fraud convictions can be used to shut them out.

As always, I wish the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office good hunting in catching these folks and pulling the ticks out of the sides of employers and insurers.

Will Mr. Gonzalez’s employer still see an increase in its workers’ compensation insurance premiums, if the injury turns out to be a fraud?  Does anyone know?  Just curios:  gregory@grinberglawoffice.com.