Man Sentenced for Collecting Dead Woman's Comp Benefits

A Buffalo man has been sentenced for stealing more than $3,500 in workers’ compensation benefits intended for a woman he had lived with but who had died. Michael Barton, 58, was sentenced in Buffalo City Court on Monday to three years of probation. He previously pleaded guilty to petty larceny. Barton has agreed to pay $3,529 in restitution. An investigation by New York State Workers’ Compensation Fraud Inspector General Catherine Leahy Scott found that Barton regularly cashed workers’ compensation benefit checks belonging to a woman he lived with and provided care to, but&...