State Fund and Sacramento County District Attorney's Office Announce Sentencing of Ex-DMV Employee Convicted of Felony Workers' Compensation Fraud

Business Wire, Dec 21, 1999

Business/News Editors

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 21, 1999

A former Department of Motor Vehicles employee was sentenced to 60 days in jail, five years probation and ordered to pay more than $22,000 in restitution to her employer and a $200 fine to the state, after her conviction on felony workers' compensation insurance fraud.

Sacramento resident Angela Shorter-Ivey, 38, last month pleaded no contest to one count of felony workers' compensation insurance fraud. Her sentencing in Sacramento County Superior Court ends an investigation that concluded that Shorter-Ivey's criminal past and other non-work related stress -- not stress from her job as a motor vehicles technician -- made her unable to work.

State Compensation Insurance Fund, which provides claims adjusting services for the Department of Motor Vehicles, referred the case to the Sacramento County District Attorney's office after State Fund investigated her claim.

The DMV fired Shorter-Ivey in September 1998.

Shorter-Ivey had blamed her job stress for her inability to work, according to Deputy District Attorney Joseph Townsell. But investigators eventually concluded that past convictions on welfare and food stamp fraud were responsible for her stress.

State Compensation Insurance Fund initially accepted Shorter-Ivey's claim, and a medical evaluation confirmed that she had sustained an injury. But during the evaluation and again when deposed by State Fund, Shorter-Ivey denied having a criminal history, investigators said. In subsequent questioning she disclosed that she had willfully neglected to tell State Fund and the examining doctor about multiple arrests on charges dating back to 1983, including a 1997 conviction for welfare fraud.

According to the District Attorney's office, upon discovering that Shorter-Ivey had not been truthful, the doctor changed his opinion and contended that Shorter-Ivey's ongoing legal and criminal troubles caused her stress. State Fund immediately issued a denial of her workers' compensation claim and requested that the District Attorney's Office and state Department of Insurance investigate.

District Attorney Townsell prosecuted after concluding that Shorter-Ivey had misled all parties in the workers' compensation investigation. The District Attorney's office said Shorter-Ivey, who filed four workers' compensation claims from July 1994 through September 1997, has a substantial criminal history, including arrests for welfare and food stamp fraud and obtaining aid through fraud and perjury. In 1993 she was arrested on welfare fraud charges while working at the DMV. She was arrested in February 1999 for failing to carry out a community service sentence.

Donna Gallagher, who manages State Fund's anti-fraud program, said, "State Fund will continue to fight fraud on all levels to protect the interests of California employers and employees as well as the integrity of the system."

State Fund's anti-fraud program addresses all aspects of workers' compensation fraud, including claimant, employer, medical and legal.

Headquartered in San Francisco, State Compensation Insurance Fund is California's largest provider of workers' compensation coverage with more than 200,000 policyholders. Established by the California Legislature in 1914, State Fund guarantees the availability of workers' compensation coverage to all California employers and competes with private carriers. State Fund is a wholly self-supporting, non-profit enterprise that returns all funds in excess of expenses, claims and necessary surplus to its California policyholders.

Note to Editors: Additional information about State Fund is available on its web site: www.scif.com.