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California Department of Insurance (DOI) fraud investigators arrested John Charles Haidich of Lafayette and charged him with 69 counts of workers’ compensation insurance fraud. The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office is prosecuting the case.
According to DOI fraud investigators, between 1997 and 1998, Haidich filed 25 fraudulent workers’ compensation claims for injuries he never suffered. The suspect filed claims against three employers, one of which was fictitious. Investigators learned that Haidich would show up at hospital emergency rooms claiming to have suffered a work-related injury. While being evaluated for his alleged injuries, Haidich often underwent extensive medical examinations and would then be given Vicodin. The suspect would then inform the hospitals that his employer’s workers’ compensation insurance carrier, State Compensation Insurance Fund (SCIF) would pay the expenses.
And they did. SCIF paid out $37,585.88 in medical billing and temporary disability to support Haidich’s Vicodin habit. The bubble burst when staff at Los Gatos Community Hospital became suspicious after Haidich showed up twice in the same month, using a different name each time, at the same emergency room. As usual, he was claiming a work-related injury, and as usual, he was looking for some pharmaceutical relief.
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