Authorities Deliver Goods on Mass. Letter Carrier’s Workers’ Comp Scam

A Malden, Massachusetts man was convicted recently in federal court of mail fraud and making false statements to a federal agency.

United States Attorney Michael Sullivan, Robert Panella, assistant special agent In Charge of the Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations of The United States Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General’s Boston Division, and Peter Zegarac, inspector In Charge of the United States Postal Inspection Services Boston Division, reported that Richard M. Shipley, 44, was convicted by a jury sitting before U.S. District Court Chief Judge Mark Wolf of mail fraud and making false statements to a federal agency.

Evidence presented during the two day trial reportedly proved that Shipley defrauded the United States by concealing from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Workers Compensation Program, the fact that he worked for and received compensation from RE/MAX Real Estate Specialists in Malden while receiving workers’ comp for an alleged total disability he suffered on his federal job.

Shipley was a postal letter carrier from 1992 to the present and made his claim for total disability in 2004. Pursuant to the Federal Employees Compensation Act, Shipley received monthly disability compensation at a rate of 75 percent of his full-time pay as a U.S. Postal Service letter carrier. At the same time, Shipley was working at RE/MAX as a real estate broker.

Chief Judge Wolf scheduled sentencing for May 30, 2006. Shipley faces up to 20 years imprisonment, to be followed by up to five years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000.