Driver-Turned-Kickboxer Charged With Double-Dipping

Thursday, March 28, 2019 | 0

He said he tripped over a shipping pallet and injured his shoulder so badly that he couldn't work. But surveillance video showed him kickboxing and working out at a martial arts gym.

This week, former FedEx driver Joey Ocasio was charged with grand larceny and workers' compensation fraud for allegedly collecting $9,000 in benefits while claiming he was disabled, according to a local news report.

Ocasio, 47, of Middletown, New York, said he was injured in April 2015, and began collecting disability benefits. But in November 2017, investigators took video of him at a Middletown martial arts center performing kicks, doing jumping jacks and squat exercises, the New York Inspector General's office reported.

The evidence was presented at a hearing last year, and Ocasio's treating doctor agreed that the man did not appear to be disabled “at all,” according to the news report.

Ocasio faces a May 30 court date.