Tile Worker-Farmhand Pleads Guilty to WC Fraud

Tuesday, July 24, 2018 | 0

An injured tile worker-turned-farmhand has pleaded guilty to illegally obtaining more than $4,000 in workers' compensation benefits.

The New York State Inspector General's office said late last week that Sergio Forte, 52, of Le Roy, New York, pleaded guilty to insurance fraud and petit larceny. He is due to be sentenced Oct. 18, according to a news report.

Forte injured his knee in 2015 while laying tile for a flooring company. He collected benefits at the rate of $853 a week and told the state Workers' Compensation Board that he was not employed, the inspector general's office reported.

All the while, he was actually working as a farmhand, officials said.

The Erie Insurance Property & Casualty Co. assisted the investigation.