False SSN Leads to Felony Fraud Charges Against Claimant

An investigation by the Georgia State Workers' Compensation Board led to the arrest of a Tifton claimant for using a false Social Security number when filing a workers' compensation claim. The board's Enforcement Division said in a press release that 35-year-old Bertha Gutierrez-Martinez provided a Social Security number that actually had been assigned to a deceased California man to obtain employment. When she was injured at work, she filed a workers' compensation claim using the same false number. She also used the fraudulent number when filing federal tax withholding do...