Los Angeles: A Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) civilian employee was arrested and booked for Workers’ Compensation and Insurance Fraud.
On July 9, 2009, LAPD investigators from the Workers’ Compensation Fraud Coordination Unit (WCFCU), Special Operations Division (SOD), Professional Standards Bureau, arrested Principal Detention Officer Olga Zavala-Edwards, 51, assigned to LAPD’s Metropolitan Jail Division. Zavala-Edwards was arrested and booked for Workers’ Compensation and Insurance Fraud relating to charges of filing a false Workers’ Compensation claim. The claim was submitted as an industrial injury, which she claimed was sustained on-duty, on November 2, 2008.
The WCFCU, SOD, investigation centered on how the alleged November 2, 2008, on-the-job injury occurred, the location of occurrence, and what information was and/or was not provided to treating medical physicians. The investigation uncovered that Zavala-Edwards had failed to advise LAPD, treating medical physicians, and investigator’s of the City Attorney’s Office, that she had actually sustained the injury at her residence sometime prior to reporting to work.
The investigation was in collaboration with Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, Healthcare Fraud Division, and Workers’ Compensation Division of the City’s Personnel Department.
Zavala-Edwards was booked at Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Century Regional Detention Facility, for 550 Penal Code-Insurance Fraud and 1871.4 Insurance Code-Workers’ Compensation Insurance Fraud. Her bail was set at $60,000.00.
Anyone with information related to this case is encourage to call the Los Angeles Police Department, Special Operations Division, at 213-473-5672. After-hours and on weekends, calls may be directed to a 24-hour toll-free number at 1-877-LAPD-24-7 (527-3247). Callers may also text “CRIMES” with a cell phone or log on to www.lapdonline.org and click on Web tips. When using a cell phone, all messages should begin with “LAPD.” Tipsters may remain anonymous.
It is sad to here that someone in our department is willing to be untruthful with something so simple. Let us remember that the city pays the monthly premium for our private health care insurance. If the evidence does show that this person lied, all she had to do was seek medical attention on her own and pay the nominal copay. Now, she has to come to terms with the prospect of jail time and losing her job...Just sad.
Posted by: G. Chavarria | July 17, 2009 at 07:57 PM