Anonymous tips and video surveillance can pay off for companies in workers’ comp cases.
Luiz Paneto of Cleveland has been sentenced to five years of community control and has been ordered to pay restitution and investigative costs totaling more than $43,000 in connection with workers’ comp fraud.
The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) received an anonymous complaint that Paneto was working for a home remodeling company as a laborer. BWC’s Special Investigations Department taped Paneto walking, lifting heavy construction materials, driving his truck and performing other home remodeling work at numerous houses. You can see the video here.
Paneto was injured while working in construction in 2001. He received temporary total disability benefits until he was granted permanent total disability in 2007.
In an interview at a job site in April 2010, Paneto said he knew he was prohibited from working while receiving workers’ comp benefits. He later attended a BWC hearing wearing an ankle brace and walking with a cane.
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