Double-Dipping Landscaper Must Repay $34,000
Tuesday, December 18, 2018 | 0
A northeast Ohio business owner must pay nearly $34,000 in restitution to the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation after he was found to be collecting benefits while working at his own landscaping business.
Gabriel Seda, of Grafton, pleaded guilty Dec. 6 to workers' compensation fraud, according to a bulletin from the bureau. He was ordered to repay the benefits he earned and was sentenced to five years' probation.
“Our investigation found Mr. Seda plowing snow, mowing lawns and landscaping for a business he owned, GS Snow Removal and Lawn Care,” said Jim Wernecke, director of BWC’s special investigations department. “Clearly, he wasn’t so disabled that he couldn’t work.”
Also this month, the owner of a graphic design and screen-printing shop in Springfield who failed to turn herself in earlier this year pleaded guilty to failure to comply after BWC’s fugitive task force tracked her down in November.
A judge fined Beth Turner, owner of Flashions LTD, $100 and ordered her to pay court costs for the misdemeanor charge. Turner’s conviction followed a BWC investigation that found her running her business with lapsed BWC coverage.
She was charged in May after she stopped cooperating with BWC to bring her policy back into compliance. She has since done so, the bureau said.
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