Rocky Hill, CT – A Naugatuck man was recently arrested and charged with illegally collecting Workers’ Compensation benefits while doing the same type of work that he was supposedly rendered unable to do by a work-related injury at his previous job.
KYLE FONTAINE, age 29, of 28 Beacon Wood Court, Naugatuck, was arrested by Inspectors from the Workers’ Compensation Fraud Control Unit in the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney on a warrant charging him with one count of Fraudulent Claim or Receipt of Benefits.
According to the arrest warrant affidavit, Fontaine collected more than $10,000 in Workers’ Compensation as a result an injury he reported suffering in July 2014 while working as an oil change technician in Danbury.
Subsequent investigation determined that Fontaine continued to collect benefits after he was hired in April 2015 by a Naugatuck business where he essentially did the same work that the 2014 injury had supposedly left him unable to do, the warrant states.
Fontaine was released on a $10,000 non-surety bond and is scheduled to appear in Waterbury Superior Court, G.A. No. 4, on January 17, 2017. The charge is merely an accusation and he is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Fraudulent Claim or Receipt of Benefits is a class B felony punishable by a term of imprisonment of up to 20 years.
The case will be prosecuted by the Workers’ Compensation Fraud Control Unit.
Source: CT Chief State’s Attorney