Former Sheriff's Deputy Nabbed for Allegedly Lying About Extent of Injury

Monday, May 9, 2016 | 0

A former Broward County sheriff’s deputy was arrested on Tuesday and charged with faking the extent of a workplace injury after investigators spied him driving and shopping, according to the Sun Sentinel Newspaper.

Nicolas Carreno is accused of lying when he claimed he needed a wheelchair and could not do many day-to-day activities or return to work. To date $533,672 has been paid on the claim for indemnity benefits, medical costs and other expenses, of which $54,894 was obtained fraudulently due to his misrepresentation, court papers allege.

The fraud charges stem from an injury he sustained as a deputy in 2007 while reaching for a laptop in the trunk of his cruiser. He had surgery eight months later and his condition worsened to the point where had to use a wheelchair.

He reported that he couldn’t do normal day-to-day activities such as driving, bending and picking up light bags.

But when claims adjusters grew suspicious they investigated, capturing Carreno on video allegedly driving and shopping, according to the news report.

Carreno said he may have been recorded doing things he said he could not, but it was in very limited ways.

Carreno admitted that he had been driving on his own, but said he could do those things in a limited capacity. He said that his pain would be less on some days, but on bad days when his pain was bad it limited his abilities.