LAPD officer arraigned on fraud charges

A Los Angeles Police Department traffic officer who lives in Valencia was arraigned in a Los Angeles court Wednesday on a felony charge of worker’s compensation fraud.

Officer Jason Gordon, 47, appeared in a courtroom at the Criminal Justice Center where he was formally charged with violating a section of the state’s insurance code.

Gordon, a nine-year veteran with the LAPD, is accused of violating section 1871.4 (a)(1) of the code. He was arrested after LAPD investigators reported they had learned he was working out in a manner “inconsistent with his claimed injury.”

Under the insurance code it is unlawful to “make or cause to be made a knowingly false or fraudulent material statement or material representation for the purpose of obtaining or denying any compensation.”

Gordon was arrested on the morning of Jan. 17 on a felony arrest warrant related to charges of workers’ compensation fraud and attempted perjury.

His last work assignment was with LAPD’s Valley Traffic Division.

The LAPD’s Special Operations Division, Workers’ Compensation Fraud Unit, conducted an investigation that stemmed from a medical claim filed by Gordon in 2015, according to a news release issued by the LAPD in January.

Investigators worked in partnership with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Healthcare Fraud Division and the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office.

They established probable cause to believe Gordon knowingly engaged in physical workout activities inconsistent with his claimed injury, while on Temporary Totally Disabled status. “Thus, he received benefits to which he was not entitled,” the release reads.

Gordon was booked and released after posting $40,000 bail.

The Workers Compensation Fraud Unit was expanded in late 2008 to investigate workers’ compensation fraud and other allegations involving abuse of benefits by L.A. city employees.

The goal of the department is to aggressively investigate fraud and abuse of benefits within the workers’ compensation system.