Internal derangement and rotator cuff tears of the right and left shoulders, lumbosacral strain, and dorsal muscle strain of the back resulting from an injury — any medical doctor would declare this patient unable to perform labor-intensive work, especially that of a Postal Service employee. Add to that PTSD, depression, and chronic pain stemming from the injury and it’s a case the Office of Workers’ Compensation would approve for compensation benefits in a heartbeat.
That’s what happened in September 2000: A rural mail carrier in the Tampa, FL, region suffered an injury while at work. Her doctor considered her totally disabled and she filed for benefits with the Department of Labor’s Office of Workers’ Compensation Program (DOL OWCP). In addition to medical care, she sought mental health treatment for anxiety and depression, which she said resulted from the ailments and how they had curtailed her once full, active life.
Her story to her health care providers was consistent: She was in so much pain she could hardly move around or do mundane things like shower or household chores. She was so depressed she could hardly get out of bed most days, which reduced her social life to next to nothing. Medications, physical therapy, medical devices, and other treatments would follow, but none potent enough to deter the pain and hardship.
The employee stayed on USPS’s rolls receiving workers’ comp payments for 14 years, which cost the agency more than $328,000 in benefits plus almost $195,000 in medical compensation. On paper, she seemed to be a long-term victim of workplace injuries, but in May 2014, something about this case caught the attention of one of our special agents. After spotting anomalies in the data, our special agents moved to confirm their suspicions in the field.
Stacked against years’ worth of medical and DOL OWCP documentation supporting the employee’s claims were a few weeks of direct observation, which showed she was far from disabled. Instead, she was active and engaged in vigorous physical activity hours at a time — whether hitting the gym each day, carrying and rearranging boxes in the garage, or even planting trees in the yard. Yet the employee was never seen wearing pain patches or a medical device, or exhibiting a lack of mobility or signs of pain or discomfort. As for the reclusive life she said she lived? Also a farce: there was evidence of her online enjoying a healthy and active social life with outtings at night and parties.
When she finally spoke with our special agents, the litany of fabrications continued: She claimed that working at the Postal Service was worse than a war she survived in another country years earlier. She was upset at DOL OWCP’s denying her medications, massages, and other treatment to which she felt entitled. And to add insult to supposed injury, she complained that the government bureaucracy was directly adding to her hardships.
The lies in her declarations went further: DOL OWCP requires claimants to report any improvements in health and any outside employment or income. She suppressed both sets of information for years while receiving rent from a condo she owned.
Our special agents arrested the employee in March 2022 and the Postal Service promptly removed her from the books. She went to trial and a jury found her guilty of all four counts of mail fraud. She asked the court to postpone her sentencing so she could sell the condo to prepare for the restitution she would be ordered to pay, but that never came to be. This January, she was sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to pay back almost $650,000 to the Postal Service. And thanks to our agents’ good work, this investigation saved USPS over $1.1 million in future fraudulent payments.
I quit the Postal Service after 11.5 years in June 1994; for the last six years, I went to college during the day and worked nights, majoring in communications.
In 1995, I started a career in journalism and am still working at a newspaper. Back in the 2010s, I was working at the Gainesville (Florida) Sun and saw a story out of Jacksonville about a woman who was 100% disabled from the Postal Service because she claimed two pit bulls attacked her, but she and her husband started a puppy farm that included pit bulls.
Not only was she and her husband collecting Navy pensions, plus her postal disability, but they were looking for donations for the puppy farm. Nice work if you can get it.
Here’s the text of the story. The story included pictures of the woman and her husband frolicking with the dogs.
The story is from 2015
Clay County couple provide a haven for unwanted senior dogs
MCRAE | Gail Roland was attacked by two pit bulls in 2000 while on her rounds as a mail carrier.
She fought them off, but went into shock. She was a lifelong dog lover, the kid who brought home strays, but the attack was so traumatizing she retired on disability.
“I couldn’t go back to work,” she said.
But Roland wasn’t done with pit bulls.
She and husband Ralph Roland founded a nonprofit senior dog sanctuary last year in Clay County. In their Northeast Florida rescue rounds, they met Louie, a 10-year-old pit bull mix suffering through his own trauma after being dumped at Clay County Animal Care and Control.
Gail Roland bonded with Louie to the surprise of friends who knew of the pit bull attack. “He has the saddest eyes,” she said. “When I saw the look in his eyes …”
So Louie and his shelter pal, a 12-year-old pit bull mix named Sookie, joined the Roland Senior Dog Rescue Gang, which the couple run from their home near McRae in rural Clay County.
“I couldn’t leave them,” Gail Roland said. “They connected with me.”
Currently, 26 mostly senior, mostly small dogs live with the Rolands, who own about 30 acres surrounding their home. For the old dogs, depending on their health, the place functions as either a hospice or assisted-living facility.
During the day, the dogs play and relax in a large fenced area behind the Rolands’ four-bedroom, 2,100-square-foot house. They sleep inside on dog beds, although some of them also like to snooze on human beds, couches or the Rolands’ laps.
Also, a few younger dogs are in residence, being nursed back to health from injuries or heartworms. The younger set, who will eventually be put up for adoption, include strays found by the Rolands and dogs referred to them by shelters, other rescue groups or other people who could find no other options.
The Rolands, both of whom are retired from the Navy, had been unofficial dog rescuers for years. But their passion for senior dogs grew during Ralph Roland’s five-year stint as Clay animal control’s adoption/rescue coordinator. He retired from that job in 2012.
“I saw a lot of senior dogs getting dumped off. They were the last ones to be adopted, if at all, and always the first ones to get euthanized,” he said.
Frightened and confused, they did not tend to adapt well to shelters, he said.
“They had been living with families, in a warm house,” she said. “They just give up or sit there and shake.”
Jennifer Broadhurst, division director at Clay County Animal Care and Control and a veterinarian, said the sanctuary plays a critical role in the rescue community.
“Senior dogs, particularly senior large dogs, are one of the groups most at risk of euthanasia in shelters across the country. Most adopters who are seeking a new family pet are not looking for senior cats or dogs who are likely to require more veterinary care, but the rewards of taking in a senior dog can be immense,” she said. “We greatly appreciate having a rescue connection that can help us with this harder-to-place group of dogs.”
Andrea Cassman, founder of Friends of Clay County Animals, agreed.
“The Roland Rescue Gang never hesitates to take a senior dog in need,” she said. “They come immediately and have helped … with many seniors in need and it does not matter the breed. The Rolands have taken senior labs, pit bulls and Chihuahuas.”
They did not set out to establish a sanctuary. But after Ralph Roland’s retirement from the Clay shelter, they found themselves taking in more and more senior dogs. Last year they made it official and obtained nonprofit status so donations to their cause are tax deductible.
Between the two of them, they feed and care for all the dogs, including getting their nails trimmed, taking them to veterinary appointments and giving them their required medications. Running the rescue costs at least $800 a month; the Rolands currently have about $2,000 on their CareCredit account, a veterinary financing plan, Ralph Roland said.
Gail Roland is the mom of the gang, the nurturer, the one who works with the young, adoptable dogs’ socialization skills and takes it the hardest when they get adopted.
“They follow her around like the Pied Piper,” her husband said.
He does the physical work, including scooping their poop. He built a ramp from the house to the yard for aging dogs who have trouble walking or maneuvering stairs. Also, he spends hours holding dogs who need up-close and personal attention. He has mastered typing with one hand, since the other hand is usually holding a small canine.
“We can’t get them all,” Ralph Roland said. “But we can give some of them a nice warm place to lie down … and spoil them rotten.”
ROLAND SENIOR DOG RESCUE GANG
The sanctuary’s wish list includes a used transport vehicle, dog beds, dog food and treats, bleach for cleaning, volunteers and monetary donations. To donate, volunteer, purchase T-shirts or other fundraising items, inquire about adoptable dogs or get more information, email rolandrescuegang@gmail.com or go to rolandrescuegang.com.
The mailing address is 5435 Painted Pony Ave., Melrose FL 32666.