Ventura County District Attorney Gregory Totten announced that Jose Arellano Vasquez (DOB 09/27/1952), of Oxnard , was sentenced to serve 180 days in the Ventura County jail following his conviction of one felony count of workers' compensation fraud and one felony count of perjury. Vasquez was also ordered to pay $98,801 in restitution to the victim, Corestaff Services Inc. On June 21, 2005, Vasquez filed a workers' comp claim alleging industrial injuries to his lower back while employed as a janitor. Vasquez's treating physician kept him off work based on his representations that he was too injured to do any type of work.
An investigation was conducted by Vasquez's employer and the Ventura County District Attorney's Office. On Oct. 8, 2005, Vasquez was deposed and testified that he never used a different social security identification number. On April 26, 2006, he was deposed for a second time. This time he testified that he had never received treatment for a back injury prior to the June 21, 2005.
The investigation reportedly revealed Vasquez previously worked using a different social security number. Investigators also discovered the existence of two prior workers' comp claims, one for an injured ankle and another for an alleged lower back injury.
Additionally, during the investigation Vasquez was reportedly videotaped performing a variety of physical activities that he previously claimed he could not do because of his alleged injuries. A doctor, who previously evaluated Vasquez as part of his workers' comp claim, was shown the surveillance video. The doctor stated that, based upon the video, Vasquez was overstating his symptoms. Moreover, the doctor said that had he known of Vasquez's prior injury claims, it would have affected his medical opinion of Vasquez's alleged injuries.
The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) estimated that in 2000, workers' comp insurance fraud was the fastest-growing insurance scam in the nation, costing the insurance industry $5 billion per year.
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