N.D. Man Ordered to Pay $9,000 Following Guilty Plea in WC Fraud Case

A Grand Forks, North Dakota man was ordered to pay $9,000 in restitution to Workforce Safety & Insurance (WSI) after pleading guilty to a charge of filing false statements, a Class A misdemeanor, in a workers’ compensation fraud case.

Northeast Central District Court Judge Lawrence Jahnke also ordered Richard Rygg, 49, to serve one year in the Grand Forks County Jail, perform 40 hours of community service and assessed him $600 in fines and fees.

Rygg had been collecting workers’ comp benefits for a back injury he sustained in 1989. A WSI claims analyst became suspicious that Rygg might be working when Rygg did not answer numerous daytime telephone calls to his home. The case was referred to WSI’s Special Investigations Unit.

An investigator determined that Rygg had a vending and gaming machine business in the Grand Forks area and was reportedly not reporting the income from that business venture, a violation of state law.

Judge Jahnke suspended the one-year in jail, pending one year of successful probation for Rygg. Last week, WSI received the full restitution amount of $9,000 from Rygg.