Former Okla. Poultry Worker Ordered to Pay Restitution in Fraud Case

A Jay, Okla., woman received a three-year deferred sentence and was ordered to pay $3,692.50 in restitution after pleading guilty in Delaware County District Court, state Attorney General Drew Edmondson said.

Gregoria Lopez, also known as Gloria Lopez, 51, was charged with one count of workers’ compensation fraud May 12 after investigators discovered she had opened a Mexican food stand in Jay, despite collecting temporary total disability payments for injuries she allegedly obtained while working for a poultry company.

Lopez was employed with Simmons Foods in February of 2000 when she claimed she ruptured a disk in her back while reaching for and lifting boxes of processed chicken.

Lopez began receiving disability payments from Simmons in March of 2000, and she allegedly failed to notify Simmons of the change in her employment status when she and her husband opened a food stand in September of that year.

“In addition to making restitution to her former employer, Gloria Lopez will pay $300 in fines and court costs, and she will have a three-year deferred sentence” Edmondson said. “We will continue to vigorously prosecute anyone who commits this costly crime.”

Lopez was prosecuted by the attorney general’s Workers’ Compensation Fraud Unit, which has statewide jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute workers’ compensation fraud. Anyone with information regarding workers’ compensation fraud can call the attorney general’s Workers’ Compensation Fraud hotline toll-free at (877) 800-8764.