Snipers and Deputies and Fraud? Oh My!
Some of my beloved readers may recall an HBO cop drama called “The Wire.” The show focused mostly on the difficulty of prosecuting a drug war in Baltimore against the backdrop of organized crime, poverty, corruption, and complacency among career city and state employees.
One character on that show, detective Roland “Prez” Pryzbylewski, had a general reputation for incompetence, despite a rising career thanks to a high-ranking father-in-law. Bear with me, dear readers, I draw nearer to my point. One of the stories following detective Pryzbylewski is that he accidentally managed to shoot his own car, and then claimed that he was fired upon by snipers, a ridiculous story which lead to him being mocked regularly by his co-workers.
Silly, right? Who in their right mind would claim being under sniper fire?!? Save that nonsense for screen… unless…?
Well, at least one person thought it might be a good idea to do just that, and he is NOT a fictional character. Former Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy Angel R. Reinosa claimed to have sustained sniper fire while leaving a sheriff’s station in 2019. He filed a workers’ compensation claim that didn’t last long in the face of an investigation showing that… nothing. NOTHING happened.
Now mind you, dear readers, the ceiling and floor have both fallen out of this story if the Sheriff’s Department’s version of the facts is correct. Not only is this a sworn peace officer who is allegedly engaged in insurance fraud, but we’re not even talking about exaggerating the impact of a back strain or claiming a non-industrial injury occurred at work.
As always, the damage done by these allegations, if true, extend beyond the cost of adjusting a workers’ compensation claim. If the deputy is convicted of this sniper hoax, as the Sheriff’s Department has labeled it, what other “hoaxes” did the deputy perpetrate while wearing a badge? Are there convictions that now need to be reexamined, and possibly re-tried, to see if the conviction can stand without the contributions of former-Deputy Reinosa?
Will the next law enforcement officer to claim a legitimate industrial injury face unwarranted suspicion?
Your humble blogger hopes that the truth (and justice) will speedily be reached in these proceedings.