Md. Man Jailed for Workers’ Comp Fraud

The Injured Workers Insurance Fund (IWIF), Maryland’s largest workers’ compensation writer, noted that Terry Hedges of Baldwin, Md. was found guilty of insurance fraud against IWIF and was sentenced to one year in Baltimore County Detention Center with all but 30 days suspended and three years of supervised probation.

Towson District Court Judge Jung also ordered Hedges to pay IWIF$19,000 in restitution. The IWIF said that in conducting a routine claims review the insurer discovered that “Hedges, who had been collecting temporary total benefits from IWIF since 1997, was employed part of the time he was collecting disability payments.”

The IWIF claims adjuster requested an investigation and surveillance, which revealed Hedges was employed with a Beltsville, Maryland, company and had earned more than $36,000 from his date of hire in October 2001 while collecting benefits from IWIF for 488 days.

“Before being taken away in handcuffs, Hedges listened to Judge Jung as she told him that he was not to use IWIF as his personal bank account, and that his actions affect every business owner in Maryland because they must pay to cover the cost of people like him,” said the bulletin.