NY's Fallen Heroes: More Than 100 Retired 9/11 Cops and Fire

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9/11 Disability Fraud Scheme Crackdown Nets Dozens of Arrests
by Sarah Wallace
7online.com/archive/9384207/
Eyewitness News
January 7, 2014 2:27:33 PM PST

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NEW YORK -- Scores of retired New York City police officers, firefighters and prison guards were charged Tuesday with faking psychiatric problems to get federal disability benefits -- with some falsely claiming their conditions arose after the Sept. 11 attacks, prosecutors said.

Four ringleaders coached the former workers on how to falsely describe symptoms of depression and other mental health problems that allowed them to get payouts high as $500,000, said Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. The ringleaders made tens of thousands in dollars in secret kickbacks, Vance said.

Among the retirees arrested were 72 city police officers, eight firefighters, five corrections officers and one Nassau County Police Department officer.

Investigators said the scam stretched back more than two decades, with the ex-officers and other workers collecting years' worth of benefits for citing mental health problems so severe that they couldn't work at all. The workers were coached on how to portray their problems, reporting that they were so psychologically damaged that they couldn't take care of themselves, prosecutors said.

Many of the officers legitimately had physical disabilities that would have entitled them to state disability pensions, but would not have entitled them to federal Social Security disability insurance, which requires a complete inability to work. Internal Affairs Chief Charles Campisi said many of the officers exaggerated their psychological trauma to gain the Social Security benefits. Most claimed post-traumatic stress disorder and many said it was because of the Sept. 11 attacks, he said. The NYPD has no information that they weren't actually working after the terrorist attack, just that they overstated the effect, he said.

One of the defendants who said he couldn't work taught martial arts. Another former police officer who claimed he couldn't leave the house worked at a cannoli stand at a street festival. Another claimed depression so crippling that it kept him house-bound but was photographed aboard a Sea-Doo watercraft.

Many said they could not use a computer but had Facebook pages, Twitter handles and YouTube channels, prosecutors said.

"The brazenness is shocking," Vance said.

More than 100 defendants were charged with crimes including grand larceny. Arraignments in the sweeping case began late Tuesday morning, with several of the defendants pleading not guilty and being released without bail.

Claims of government workers feigning injury to get disability benefits have been the focus of sprawling criminal cases before.

Over the last two years, 32 people were arrested in a probe into Long Island Rail Road employees who collected federal railroad disability benefits; at least two dozen have pleaded guilty. The workers allegedly claimed on-the-job injuries, only to be spotted later playing golf and tennis, working out, and even riding in a 400-mile bike race.

Joseph Gentile, an attorney who represents a former police officer, declined to discuss his case specifically. But he also represented one of the people charged in the railroad case, suggested such charges reflect a troubled system for reviewing and approving disability claims.

"A lot of the problems that occur here are because of systematic problems, not because of someone's criminality," he said. While some people may indeed exploit benefits, "by and large, people have a bona fide, legitimate medical injury. The question becomes: Is the medical problem or injury sufficient to sustain the claim for the benefits?"

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Associated Press Writer Colleen Long contributed to this report.

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Caught in the Act: Workers Collect Thousands in False Injury Claims
by Francesca Ferreira and Elissa Stohler
April 18, 2014

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Every year, countless people rake in thousands of dollars by faking an injury to collect on disability payments. Vincent Lamantia, 43, from Staten Island, N.Y., is allegedly one of those fraudsters.

In online videos, Lamantia appears to be very brazen, giving others advice on how to make easy money. He is one of many former New York City police officers and firefighters who were recently indicted for claiming fraudulent psychological ailments in order to collect social security benefits.

Lamantia allegedly lied about suffering from depression from post-9/11 trauma, and collected nearly $150,000 in disability payments. Despite saying he was too ill to work, he was working for an energy company and traveling to exotic countries, like Indonesia, according to prosecutors.

He is heard in one online video bragging about money coming in at his job saying, “They keep paying us. They keep downloading money every single week. We’re getting emails that said, 'Congratulations, you have money.'"

ABC News approached Vincent Lamantia for comment, but he declined to speak.

Many of the indicted former officers left a trail of evidence posted online, including Glen Lieberman, a retired police officer who claimed mental illness, but was found smiling on a jet ski in a photo posted on Facebook. Lieberman's lawyer told ABC News the photo was taken before he became sick.

Luis Hurtado collected almost half a million dollars for a claimed back injury. But, at the time, he was an active owner and martial arts teacher at “VIP Karate” school in Florida and currently has his picture posted on their website. The defendants in this case all pleaded not guilty.

These former officers are among the many individuals who are accused of claiming a fraudulent injury. Experts estimate that false injury claims cost insurance companies billions of dollars a year, which trickles down to taxpayers and raises their premiums. Questionable claims are up 24 percent from last year.

Cathy Cashwell, from Oak Island, N.C., was another individual accused of wrongfully collecting worker’s compensation. In her 2004 claim, Cashwell said a shoulder injury while working as a postal worker prevented her from standing, running, reaching or grasping.

Yet, she was spotted on the show “The Price is Right,” running up to the podium, jumping in excitement and spinning the wheel. She also posted all her vacation photos online, and was seen zip-lining and hang-gliding on Facebook. She subsequently pleaded guilty to fraud.

Valerie Scroggins, a former New York City bus driver, claimed that a severe shoulder injury prevented her from getting behind the wheel. In 2006, detectives tracked her down in Europe playing drums at a concert with her band, ESG. She pleaded guilty on Sept. 19, 2008 to “attempted fraudulent practices."

Chicago-based private investigator Bob Kiehn makes it his job to catch impostors, with the help of his spy gear. “It’s those people that are raising the insurance premiums…that’s why I do this," Kiehn told ABC News.

Kiehn and his company can save insurance companies millions of dollars a year by detecting fraud.

He’s caught people on camera, such as Marwan Khouri, who reported severe back and neck injuries and yet was seen on video using a pick ax. Khouri's lawyer told ABC News the video does not show the extent of Khouri's injuries. But Khouri was denied all compensation after an insurance commission ruled that he had lied.

There was also a steel worker, who was collecting money for a shoulder injury, but was caught by Kiehn on video working with a power saw to cut through ice while ice fishing.

While Kiehn makes it harder for people to commit these frauds, there are many people who are willing to take that risk.

“The best way and only way of beating the system is completely staying in your house, not leaving for three to five years," Kiehn said.

"Because anything you do outside of that -- and we’re there -- we’re going to get it.”