Columbus, OH – A Lima (Allen County) man was ordered to pay nearly $7,000 in restitution and investigative costs for working while collecting workplace injury benefits. John Neeley pleaded guilty Feb. 19 in Franklin County Court of Common Pleas after undercover investigators with the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation caught him on video working while he was supposed to be recovering from a workplace injury.
“We received an allegation that Mr. Neeley was working while collecting BWC disability benefits, and once he became aware of the investigation, he fled to Florida,” said BWC Administrator/CEO Steve Buehrer. “Thanks to the anonymous tipster and our hard-working investigators, he has now been sentenced for his crime.”
Investigators gathered records and surveillance video, which confirmed Neeley’s return to work; they discovered he performed concrete installation jobs for several customers between July and October 2012.
Neeley pleaded guilty to one count of workers’ compensation fraud and was sentenced to 180 days in jail. He received 59 days of jail time credit, and the remaining 121 days were suspended for three years of community control. The terms of his community control include basic supervision, with telephone reporting allowed as long as he makes a good faith effort to obtain/maintain employment and pay $4,878.14 in restitution and $2,000 in investigative costs to the BWC. The judge ordered Neeley to pay $250 per month to the BWC. He must pay at least $2,250 by Dec. 31, or he will be sent to jail to serve the rest of his sentence.
Source: Ohio BWC