Federal authorities allege that a Minnesota postmaster faked injuries for years, collecting more than $275,000 in lost wages and medical bills, even though he was performing physical tasks while away from his job.
Andrew K. Broughton, 60, of Faribault, is charged with committing fraud to obtain federal employee compensation. Broughton was charged in federal court in Minneapolis by “information,” meaning that he’s notified authorities of his intention to plead guilty.
That attorney, Kevin O’Brien, said Thursday that he and Broughton “anticipate resolving this case through a guilty plea [that] will include him agreeing to pay restitution.”
According to the indictment: Broughton, while postmaster for Elko New Market, began reporting on-the-job injuries as early as October 2000, starting with back problems. Then he disclosed a foot injury in September 2011 and hand injuries in August 2014.
For 15 years starting in September 2001, Broughton received $94,159 to make up for lost wages and another $182,226 so he could pay medical bills.
To counter Broughton’s claim that his injuries prevented him from going to work, prosecutors alleged that in the summer of 2015, he “performed numerous physical activities that were inconsistent with his alleged disabilities.”
Feds: South metro postmaster faked work injuries, collected $275K while off job
I get the impression that the commenters question the legitimacy of some of the OWCP claims. If anyone really knows what is going on with the system, it would be the claimant’s co-workers. The comments make you think.
What an idiot….after 15 years on disability this idiot thought he could do yard work all the sudden.
Another idiot manager in the USPS circus…can’t make this stuff up!!!
Lets consider firing him, but we must also make sure that he has the right to retire with full pension and full benefits. Remember he did plead guilty and will make restitution. Another management piece of crap. Good riddance.
This all has to stop. Not just management, but clerks and carriers who deal and use drugs on the clock and deal on the street. Ignoramuses who dump mail, steal mail looking for valuables, etc. One person in my former office has been busted again for drug dealing after a prior conviction and prison term. The skank is history now, and that’s good.
I was a union officer for years but one thing I hated was having to see some really nasty jerks using and dealing meth and driving on routes drunk, if they weren’t busted by the law or only charged with misdemeanors getting off the hook because of stupid managerial mistakes. It’s one thing to have an abuse problem and seek help from the services offered through the USPS like EAP. That is a very generous thing to offer and most employers do not give anybody a second chance. However, if an addicted or just plain stupid person refuses help, then there is nobody to blame but themselves.
At this point management nor the unions should “owe” these abusers any favors, but many keep fucking up and then demand the USPS or union get them off the hook, only to go back to their criminal ways.
And out and out thieves and scammers, WC frauds and the like deserve no defense at all. Of course, one must be assumed innocent until proven guilty but once guilt has been proven in the courts of law, in felonies removal is a must, even if some quirk in state laws like where I live sometimes felons do not have to serve hard time due to certain circumstances, a lenient judge or overcrowding. They must be fired nonetheless from the USPS and go work elsewhere where people who depend on our integrity and honesty don’t have to deal with them.
Not shocking at all, unless you are blind, he could of went to work answered phones.
That phone must of been to HEAVY, oh my.
“Could of.., must of…”
It’s no wonder that the American education system sucks.
Jeez, how stupid. Don’t workmen’s comp fraud assholes care that their fake injuries make it so much harder for legitimate claimants to get the help they need? That question of course is rhetorical. This is a postmaster in a small office who isn’t carrying mail, so his claims are even more ludicrous.
But this isn’t just another anti-management rant. Craft pull this shit a lot too, and I could share stories of blatant fraud from personal experience, including unknowingly help a very dishonest worker get WC when several years after milking the USPS was stupid enough to tell another employee that they were faking it all the time. So this one got away and I figured nothing could be done, especially since I was a union officer who felt that it was management’s responsibility to do something about it, which it was, but in usual fashion, it was mishandled from Day 1 and hence the theft of tens of thousands were guaranteed.
Laugh and joke now, but that person didn’t come away as big a winner as they thought. Once word got around of the admitted fraud, which many of us suspected anyway, that person was left totally friendless and former co-workers will have absolutely nothing to do them, being a proven liar and thief.
People, we are supposed to be mature adults, but so many still act like stupid ass kids. Dishonest, piss poor workers and people in general, who lie like rugs, screw other employees, back stab with the enthusiasm of a serial killer, and are selfish as the worst people you ever know. Some people do not grow up.
I’m glad I’m out of that hell hole now. Retirement has been a life saver, I’m enjoying my time at home with my enormous music collection, writing music, spending time with my disabled wife and traveling. I didn’t realize how much stress the USPS workplace put me under, even when I thought after 32 + years I’d seen it all and couldn’t be rattled. We just don’t pay attention to the stress as much with more experience, but it takes leaving to realize that we were affected. If people on both sides, craft and management tried to be mature adults and act like one, instead of petty scheming jerks, it would make a big difference for everybody. I know though that some people are just too selfish and mean to ever accomplish true adulthood. Sad.
Welcome to the USPS entitlement show…brought to you by NALC, NPMHU, APWU, NAPUS & NRLCA!
The unions are partly responsible for the lazy workers. Had it been a private industry, lots of folks would not have a job, including me.
It’s not the unions job to make sure people work. I use to think the same way you do but in reality it’s the supervisor job to make sure everyone is working 8 hrs for 8 hrs pay
Just one example of the frauds that Management commits on a daily
basis. 99% of what they do involves fraud, lying, cheating, harassing
and pure evil acts. Fire all the toolbags. They are just taking up space
and are a waist of money.
“…a waist of money”.
Do you mean the fanny pack?
lead by example? what would IOD PMG Megan Brennen say?
She says : ” Do as I say, not as I do.”
The problem in such cases sometimes involved Doctors that are not on the up, and
up. It is too hard to fake things without the help of others. Many less than honorable
Doctors will try, and steer Government Employees into making false claims. Smart
workers do not listen to foolish advice!.
How do they pay you so you can pay medical bills?
He took a page right out of my play book.
Well golly gee, who’d a thunk it, almost fell off my “never heard that before sarcasm intended” chair. You mean to tell me, we have yet another member of USPS mgmt committing some sort of fraud?!?!?!?! Second verse same as the first…
Way to go. They caught one of about ten thousand scammers. Nice