Norwalk Judicial Marshal Charged with Workers' Compensation Fraud, Larceny
A Bridgeport man who was supposedly rendered unable to work as a state judicial marshal due to on-the-job injuries was arrested today and charged illegally collecting Workers' Compensation benefits after he was seen working a security job at a Stamford bar.
AMADOR NUNEZ, age 41, of 62 Benham Avenue, Bridgeport, was arrested by Inspectors from the Workers' Compensation Fraud Control Unit in the Office of the Chief State's Attorney and charged with one count of Fraudulent Claim or Receipt of Benefits and one count of Larceny in the First Degree by Defrauding a Public Community.
According to the arrest warrant affidavit, Nunez claimed on three separate occasions from May 2012 to July 2015 to have been injured while working or in training while employed as judicial marshal at Norwalk Superior Court. On the last date of reported injury, July 8, 2015, Nunez was ordered out of work by his physician and was placed on Temporary Total Disability benefits from the Workers’ Compensation Fund.
The National Crime Insurance Bureau received an anonymous tip that Nunez was working security at the Brickhouse Bar and Grill in Stamford and surveillance over a 16-day period in November of 2015 showed him standing, checking identifications and roaming through the bar wearing a shirt marked "security," the warrant states.
According to the warrant, from July to December of 2015 Nunez was paid $21,912 in Temporary Total Disability benefits, which are intended for injured workers who are medically determined to have no work capacity. Applicants must also disclose any earnings outside of their pay received from their employer and any and all concurrent employment outside of their primary job.
Nunez was released on a written promise to appear in Norwalk Superior Court, G.A. No. 20, on June 27, 2016, when the case will be transferred to New Britain Superior Court. The charges are merely accusations and he is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
The case will be prosecuted by the Workers’ Compensation Fraud Control Unit.