Portland, Maine: United States Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II announced that Lawrence E. Moody, 63, of Scarborough, Maine, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court by Judge Nancy Torresen to five months in prison, five months of home detention and three years of supervised release for federal workers’ compensation fraud. He was also ordered to pay $120,000 in restitution. Moody pled guilty to the charge on September 30, 2013.
According to information presented in court, in January 2001, Moody worked as a tractor trailer driver for the U.S. Postal Service in Portland when he injured his back loading mail. Moody filed a claim for workers’ compensation benefits and was granted medical benefits and income replacement benefits at a rate of 75% of his salary. Between 2006 and 2013, Moody received about $272,000 worth of income replacement benefits. Moody was required by the
workers’ compensation program to promptly report to the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Workers Compensation Programs (OWCP) any improvement in his health, a return to work, and any income he earned. He was also required to periodically certify the same information in
writing.
From 2007 to 2013, Moody operated a car hauling business known as “Snowbird Express.” Using a pickup truck and 47-foot enclosed trailer, he hauled cars for customer to various locations. Many customers had the defendant transport their cars to Florida for the winter and back to Maine in the spring. Moody conducted business on a cash basis and charged his customers by the mile. During that period, he failed to report the income he earned from Snowbird Express to the U.S. Postal Service, OWCP, or the Internal Revenue Service.
In fashioning her sentence, Judge Torresen found that Moody fraudulently obtained
$120,000 in worker’s compensation benefits to which he was not entitled, said that her sentence
was intended to have a deterrent effect because it is difficult to detect these types of crimes, and
noted that taxpayers pay because these crimes go undetected.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Service, Office of Inspector General and the
U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General, Office of Labor Racketeering and
Fraud Investigations.