Police Officer Charged with Double Dipping Workers’ Compensation Benefits

Garvin County, OK (Workerscompensation.com) - For the second time in less than two years, Garvin County resident Byron Gordon has made headlines. Last June, Gordon was found guilty of sexually assaulting a man who is mentally handicapped; and now he’s accused of workers’ compensation fraud.

Gordon allegedly began collecting worker’s compensation benefits for a work-related injury that occurred while he was a Lindsay Police Officer, and continued receiving payments when he started working as a Paoli Police Officer.

According to court documents obtained by Workerscompensation.com, from The Oklahoma Attorney General, Gordon injured his right hand and arm while he was working for the city of Lindsay Police Department in May 2016. He received weekly temporary total disability wage benefits from May 23 to Sept. 2 2016. 

During that period he also received medical treatment from Michael E. Kiehn, M.D who diagnosed Gordon with a deep tissue bruise. But court documents allege Gordon may have misrepresented his physical abilities to the physician, and was, therefore, placed on light work duty. Since the Lindsay Police Department did not have any light duty work available for Gordon, he was placed him on TTD which paid out $527.06 per week.

While he was receiving benefits, Gordon allegedly applied for, and got a job with the Paoli Police Department as an active duty officer. Authorities allege he concealed and omitted material information regarding the level of limitation and dysfunction of his physical condition. He started working for that department on July 7.   

Investigation

Meanwhile, David Driscoll, an investigator in the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office, had been assigned to investigate the alleged fraud involving Gordon. Among the employment records Driscoll obtained from Paoli was a “notification of employment” form dated July 7. 2016. It showed that Gordon had been officially hired as a police officer as of that date. 

Driscoll also reviewed a form labeled “Oath of a Police Officer,” which had Gordon’s signature. The form indicated to the town of Paoli that Gordon was not subject to any disabilities that would make him ineligible to hold the position for which he had been hired.

In the Affidavit of Probable Cause Driscoll noted, “On 9/15/2017 I interviewed Mike Lewis the Police Chief of Paoli, and he indicated Gordon was expected to perform all the duties of a Police Officer.” It went on to say, “Gordon had mentioned a shoulder issue, but the issue did not hinder him from performing his duties. Gordon did not provide any work restriction to the City of Paoli.”

In that same court document Driscoll declared that Gordon had knowingly provided untrue information to Dr. Kiehn, and CompSource, the insurance provider for the city of Lindsay, in an effort to continue receiving his TTD payments while working for the Paoli Police Department in the same scope as he did with the Lindsey Police Department. 

Gordon was arrested last week and had told investigators, “my intent was not to defraud or cheat anybody out of anything. I had to pay for my insurance.” He also claimed "Paoli was a light duty job because it was mostly on call.”

In a news release Dace McKenzie an attorney, stated: “It's disappointing. I wouldn't say it's shocking. We hold police officers to a higher standard because they are sworn to uphold the law and follow the laws. What you`re saying is you are unable to work because of the disability that your employment with the other employer caused, and so what you are doing is creating a fraud upon the system.”

McKenzie added, “He's clearly, while receiving those benefits, committing some sort of fraud upon the system because being a police officer is a fairly active and physical job.”

Gordon’s case is still in the preliminary stages; however, he could face jail time and penalties. In a statement to Workerscompensation.com, Colin Fowler, Direction of Communication and Administration for the Oklahoma Workers Compensation commission said “As an Agency we do encourage people to report any suspected fraud to the AG’s office as soon as possible. “

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