Our special agents found the retiree had filed about 1,440 false claims, with over 530 of them reflecting inflated mileage to go to medical appointments. They also found over 910 claims didn’t coincide with actual medical appointments and claims submitted by the providers to the DOL for services rendered.
The woman’s career with the Postal Service had spanned several decades and, at the time of the investigation, she still had three open claims for medical and compensation benefits for which the DOL had paid upwards of $895,000. The claims stemmed from three injuries suffered between 2012 and 2019. It was time for our special agents to ask her what was going on, and what they found was that with every question her story unraveled.
When asked about travel reimbursement claims with no corresponding medical appointments, she said her doctor told her to do more physical activities outside the appointments. So, she completed a travel reimbursement form, using her doctor’s address, each time she did anything physical and thought of it as doctor prescribed. These additional claims were usually walks in the park or other activities within her own neighborhood. As a result, the woman claimed reimbursement almost daily, to include weekends and holidays.