Fireman Will Face Fraud Charges

Wednesday, November 25, 2015 | 0

A volunteer fireman who took part in 177 call outs while pocketing $45,000 in workers' compensation will stand trial on perjury and workers' compensation fraud charges, a New York court ruled.

James Moreland, 66, of Wendelville, New York, worked as a fireman from 2009 through 2011 whiile collecting insurance for a neck injury he suffered driving a truck for a private company.

At a court hearing Monday in Niagara County, Judge Matthew Murphy dismissed charges against Moreland's wife, Shirley Moreland, “in the interest of justice,” according to a report in the Buffalo News newspaper.

James Moreland has pleaded not guilty after he was indicted in August on two counts of first-degree perjury, nine counts of first-degree offering a false instrument for filing and eight counts of fraudulent workers' comp practices. His wife, 65, faced false-instrument and fraudulent-practice charges.

They were accused of lying on a workers' compensation form. The latest court hearing related to whether the rules of a speedy trial were violated given that the benefits were first cut in 2012, while charges were only brought earlier this year.

The Morelands believed his work as a volunteer fireman did not apply when asked whether he was working while receiving compensation, according to their defence.

The charges of perjury are linked to testimony before the Workers' Compensation Board's administrative law judge on two occasions in 2010, when he allegedly denied doing any volunteer work while injured.