MAN SENTENCED IN THEFT OF WORKER COMPENSATION BENEFITS

Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr., announced today that Jeffrey Ross Stevens, 51, formerly of Delaware, now residing in Baltimore County pled guilty to felony theft in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County before Judge Christian Kahl.

The Statement of Facts presented to the Court in support of Stevens guilty plea established that, between June 1997 and January 2002, Stevens claimed he was injured during the course of his employment with Casper G. Sipple, an electrical contractor in Baltimore County. He was, in fact, injured during his lunch hour, reconnecting power at his ex-wife’s house. Stevens collected $25,116.05 in medical payments for his injury and was paid $4,249.72 in lost wages by the Rockwood Casualty Insurance Company of Pennsylvania, Sipple’s workers’ compensation carrier. The crime was discovered by Rockwood when they obtained a copy of the ambulance report and noted that the location of the injury was not Steven’s assigned job site for that day.

Attorney General Curran said, "Mr. Stevens abused the workers' compensation system, a crime this office will continue to pursue in cooperation with the Maryland Insurance Administration and the State Police." Judge Kahl suspended the imposition of sentence and placed Stevens on 5 years supervised probation and ordered that he pay $29,365.77 in restitution to Rockwood Casualty Insurance Company.

The criminal case followed a joint investigation conducted by the Insurance Fraud Division of the Maryland Insurance Administration, the Office of the Attorney General and the Maryland State Police.
 

#