Former Kentucky mail carrier charged in alleged $340,000 workers’ comp fraud
A former rural mail carrier in Kentucky lied to get more than $340,000 in workers’ compensation payments, a federal grand jury has charged.
The grand jury In Lexington indicted Jessica Spring Deaton Thursday on four charges of wire fraud and four charges of fraud to obtain benefits.
The indictment says Deaton, of Montgomery County, became a mail carrier for the United States Postal Service in March 2007 and filed a claim for workers’ comp in April 2010, claiming she had hurt herself on the job and couldn’t work anymore.
The government approved the claim.
Beginning in 2011, Deaton filed a form annually stating she had not been self-employed or involved in any business enterprise, and had not done any volunteer work, in the 15 months before signing the form, according to the indictment.
That was false because Deaton was involved in a residential rental business with her husband, the indictment charges.
Deaton advertised rental units, showed rental properties to prospective tenants, collected rent and arranged repairs at the units, according to the indictment.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Deaton also submitted applications to a state program set up to pay landlords on behalf of tenants who fell behind on their rent, the indictment says.
And from 2019 through 2023, Deaton did volunteer work making calls and sending emails for the Montgomery County Residential Rental Association, according to the indictment.
Deaton”fraudulently obtained” more than $340,000 in federal workers’ compensation money, the indictment charges.
The most serious charge against Deaton, wire fraud, has a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
