Mass. Bus Driver Pulled Over for Alleged Workers’ Comp Fraud

An public transit MBTA bus driver has been indicted on charges that he fraudulently collected workers’ compensation benefits and submitted falsified documents to support his claims, Attorney General Tom Reilly announced.

Jonathan T. Farrow, Sr., of Hyde Park, was indicted on one count of workers’ comp fraud and one count of larceny over $250. He is scheduled to be arraigned in Suffolk Superior Court on Dec. 30, 2005.

In May 2002, Farrow sustained a minor chest injury on the job while delivering furniture for now-defunct WorkBench Furniture. As a result of this injury and based on Farrow’s statements to Kemper Insurance, Farrow received workers’ comp benefits. It is alleged that Farrow altered and submitted falsified medical records to his supervisor to support his failure to return to work. It is further alleged that these falsified medical records were, in fact, from an injury sustained by Farrow four years earlier.

The investigation of this case began when a Kemper Insurance claims adjuster discovered that the doctor who allegedly treated Farrow for his 2002 chest injury, and whose records Farrow submitted to his employer, had voluntarily surrendered his medical license in 2000.

It is further alleged that, while collecting workers’ comp benefits, Farrow began working for the MBTA as a part-time bus driver where he continues to be employed.