Cleveland Painter Guilty of Workers' Comp Fraud

Cleveland, OH (WorkersCompensation.com) - A Cleveland-area man caught working while receiving injured workers’ benefits from BWC pleaded guilty Dec. 1 to a misdemeanor count of workers’ compensation fraud.

Angelo Reillo Sr., 32, of Garfield Heights, paid $3,354 in restitution to BWC at the time of his guilty plea in Franklin County Common Pleas Court. A judge fined him $50.

Acting on a tip, agents with BWC’s Special Investigations Department found Reillo working as a painter and supervisor from Oct. 20, 2014, until Dec. 3 that year while receiving living maintenance benefits from BWC. Living maintenance compensation is designed for workers who are actively participating in a BWC-approved vocational rehabilitation plan. The benefits are supposed to end after the injured worker returns to full-time work.

Agents determined Reillo engaged in “ongoing and regular substantially gainful remunerative employment, which was inconsistent with the receipt of LM benefits and contrary to entitlement.”