Columbus, OH – A Central Ohio woman must pay more than $51,000 in restitution to the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation after pleading guilty Thursday to a fifth-degree felony count of workers’ compensation fraud.
Danielle Cheeks, 41, of Groveport, must repay BWC $51,590 and serve five years probation in lieu of a six-month jail sentence for fraudulent behavior dating back to 2010, according to her Nov. 3 sentence in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas.
BWC’s Special Investigations Department started looking at Cheeks after a BWC claims service specialist (CSS) suspected Cheeks was under-reporting her work wages in order to receive higher living maintenance wage-loss benefits from BWC. The CSS told investigators he had requested Cheeks on multiple occasions to submit her paystubs but she never complied.
Investigators determined Cheeks was working as a home health aide for three private companies, as well as for herself as an independent provider for Medicaid recipients, as early as August 2010. This employment conflicted consistently with BWC benefits she received from August 2010 through November 2014.
Source: Ohio BWC SID