Two busted on workers comp fraud
Two accused of scamming Nassau workers' comp system
The daughter of a former Nassau County worker has been arrested and a current employee fired - both because of workers' compensation fraud, County Executive Thomas Suozzi said Tuesday.
"We will not tolerate people who try to scam the system," Suozzi said at a news conference in Mineola. "I have a message for those people: Let these two cases put you on notice - we're watching, and if you're cheating, we'll catch you."
In the first case, Siobhan McCarthy-Nishite, 20, allegedly cashed nearly $8,000 worth of her mother's worker's comp checks after the mother died in March. Nassau's Commissioner of Investigations Bonnie Garone learned of it and turned over the results of her investigation to the county police department. The daughter was arrested Aug. 12 and charged with third-degree grand larceny and multiple counts of second-degree possession of a forged instrument.
In the second case, Sean Tolliver, 50, of West Hempstead, was fired after lying under oath to workers' compensation authorities that he could not work because of neck, arm and leg trauma from a fall, Garone said.
County investigators had video of Tolliver, without his neck brace, sling and cane, washing his car and jogging. He jogged 2.6 miles each way to and from a gym before and on the day of his sworn testimony that he was virtually immobile, Garone said.
An eight-year youth group worker at the county's Juvenile Detention Center, Tolliver, who earned $55,269 yearly, was fired in mid-May. Tolliver could not be reached. But his lawyer, Steven Gildin of Queens, said: "Mr. Tolliver maintains his innocence, has updated medical data supporting his case and is appealing the workers' compensation ruling against him."
Suozzi said the county pays more than $20 million annually to employees who are injured on the job. "Most of these are legitimate and the compensation deserved," Suozzi said. "But there are always those who try to scam the system."
McCarthy-Nishite, of East Atlantic Beach, was remanded to jail under $250 bail, which was paid Tuesday. Neither she nor her Legal Aid lawyer could be reached.
Garone said she will turn over her information on Tolliver to the district attorney.
Social Networking