July 27, 2015 1:39 PM
‘Wicked Tuna’ star Paul Hebert (Photo credit Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — A star of TV’s “Wicked Tuna” has been indicted on federal fraud charges. The indictment says Paul Hebert claimed to be disabled and unable to work while he was catching fish and appearing on the National Geographic Channel reality show.
The four-count indictment against the 50-year-old from Gloucester, Massachusetts, was filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Burlington, Vermont. It alleges that Hebert accepted a little more than $44,000 in Social Security and Medicaid benefits between 2010 and 2013.
The indictment says that while claiming disability, Hebert was “capable of arduous physical labor.” Beginning in October 2010, it says, “he earned money through fishing and later through his television work.”
Hebert’s attorney, Robert Goldstein of Boston, says his client is innocent. Hebert is due in court on Aug. 10.