Avon Lake man sentenced for workers’ comp fraud

Four claimants and one employer from Northeast Ohio have been sentenced for defrauding the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation.

The cases bring the year’s total convictions for BWC’s special investigations department to 121.

“BWC is in the business of caring for injured workers and promoting safe workplaces, not doling out thousands of dollars to cheaters,” said SID Director Jim Wernecke in a news release. “We’ll return these funds to where they belong and turn our attention to others working the system to avoid paying their share or to collect payments they don’t deserve.”

Among those convicted last month was:

• Timothy S. Lumsden, of Avon Lake pleaded guilty to a fifth-degree felony count of workers’ compensation fraud for working while receiving BWC benefits. Acting on a tip in 2015, BWC investigators determined Lumsden had returned to work as an independent carpenter at the Federal Knitting Mills Building in Cleveland while collecting temporary total disability benefits.

A Franklin County judge ordered Lumsden to pay BWC $5,385 in restitution. He also sentenced Lumsden to 11 months in jail (suspended) and community control for three years.

To report suspected workers’ compensation fraud, call 800-644-6292 or visit bwc.ohio.gov.