Columbus, OH – Lonnie Mace, of New Plymouth (Hocking County), was sentenced April 3 for working while receiving workplace injury benefits. This follows his Feb. 26 guilty plea to a fifth-degree felony charge of workers’ compensation fraud in Franklin County Common Pleas Court.
An allegation was made following a cross match with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. Investigators learned that Mace was receiving permanent total disability benefits while employed as a commercial vehicle driver during a 2010 safety inspection. They found that Mace was employed by a trucking company prior to and while receiving workers’ compensation benefits. Mace’s benefits were terminated and a lump sum advancement of his benefits was declared overpaid, totaling $103,174.34 due to BWC.
Mace was ordered to pay that amount in restitution to the BWC. He was sentenced to 12 months in jail, which was suspended, and placed on community control for five years. If he violates the terms of community control, he will serve 12 months in jail.
Source: Ohio BWC