One Officer Charged for Comp Fraud, One Sentenced to Prison for a False Claim

Is it simply greed, or at best an act of desperation that drives someone who has sworn to protect and serve violating the very laws that they are trying to keep others from violating?  Whatever the reason, it is always unsettling to see rogue officers committing insurance fraud, or two in this instance.

According to WorkersCompensation.com and the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office, a former California Highway Patrol (CHP) Officer is accused of faking an injury to collect workers’ comp benefit payments.

Brian Christopher Hansen, 30, has been charged by the DA’s office with felony workers’ comp insurance fraud and attempted perjury charges.

The complaint alleges that between Nov. 14, 2008 and Oct. 1, 2011, Hansen made numerous false statements to various doctors, investigators and in a sworn deposition regarding the extent of his physical disabilities caused by an on-duty injury to his back.

Hansen stated that because of pain from a back injury, he could only drive for short periods of time, could not sit for more than 30 minutes, could not pick up items over 10 pounds, and could not even perform certain office duties.

The CHP’s Office of Internal Affairs Workers Compensation Insurance Fraud Investigation Unit opened the case against him. On the contrary to Hansen’s claims however, the DA’s office stated that he was videotaped driving for hours at a time, moving furniture when he changed residences, bending over and picking up items weighing more than 30 pounds, and engaging in everyday activities with no signs of any physical limitations.

The DA’s office also noted that, “By falsely misrepresenting the extent of his physical disability, Hansen received several thousands of dollars in disability benefit payments to which he was not entitled.”

Hansen graduated from the CHP Academy in 2007 and left the department in January of 2012.

Elsewhere we find Thomas J Logan, a 16-year veteran cop, who, according to the Scranton Times Tribune, was sentenced on July 11^th for filing a fake insurance claim and illegally killing a deer.

Logan was sentenced to 2 to 18 months.

Investigators discovered the gun Mr. Logan used to shoot a deer out of season – a Remington Model 700 7 mm rifle – was the same gun he tried to claim as lost in a fire several years in order to collect money for it.

Lackawanna County Deputy District Attorney Robert Klein stated, “It’s imperative that we trust our law enforcement, yet when a police officer is charged with a crime it violates the public’s trust that they do the “right thing, day in and day out.”

This whole case started when a hunting cabin that was frequented by Mr. Logan and with other borough police officers burned to the ground back in December of 2009. According to the criminal complaint, after the fire, he told his insurance company that he lost $7,814.39 in property, including the rifle and dozens of other of items.

Arrest papers note that nearly two years later, on October 26^th, Logan, 39, shot a deer with the same gun.

The following day the gun was confiscated by a state wildlife commission officer, Mark Rutkowski, who recalled the 2009 cabin fire and spoke with state police Fire Marshal Russell Andress, who handled the fire investigation.

Andress then obtained Logan’s insurance claim and spotted the supposedly lost gun on the list of damaged items.

State police charged Logan, who was terminated back in November, with filing a false insurance claim, theft by deception, receiving stolen property, and unsworn falsification to authorities.

He was also charged by the Game Commission with three misdemeanors and three summary offenses related to the illegal deer kill.

Logan had pleaded guilty to one count of insurance fraud and one count of killing big game beyond daily or seasonal limits. He was immediately cuffed and taken to jail after sentencing.