April 10, 2007

DA Charges Mail Carrier with Disability Fraud

Rice: Tirado stole more than $85k from federal government, while lying about employment after 2001 injury on-the-job

MINEOLA - Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced today that charges have been filed against Cesar Tirado, a 33-year-old Freeport man who has allegedly been lying to the federal government in order to receive more than $85,000 dollars in disability payments.

Cesar Tirado began his employment with the U.S. Postal Service on August 2, 1997, as a letter carrier for the Freeport Post Office. In July 2001 Mr. Tirado suffered an injury while on the job. On July 6, 2001, Mr. Tirado submitted a U.S. Department of Labor claim requesting compensation as a result of the injury. On January 10, 2003, Mr. Tirado received his first check from the federal government.

The compensation workers receive as a result of a job-related injury is offset by any additional income they earn from another employer since the granting of the disability benefits.

In April 2005, a routine review of the disability status of injured postal workers done by investigators of the Department of Labor uncovered numerous documents identifying Mr. Tirado as an owner and operator of “Cesar and Palin Barbershop”, located at 160 Hempstead Turnpike, in West Hempstead.

Subsequent video surveillance confirmed the employment and captured the defendant working at the business. In addition, investigators have uncovered certificates filed with the Nassau County Clerk’s Office in September 2003 identifying the defendant as an owner of the barbershop.

On more than a dozen dates since September 2003, Mr. Tirado has filed forms with the U.S. Department of Labor denying he had worked since his injury.

Mr. Tirado received $85,317.51 in federal compensation from October 4, 2003, to December 22, 2006.

Mr. Tirado has been charged with Grand Larceny in the Second Degree and Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree. If convicted of the charges, Mr. Tirado faces a maximum of 15 years in prison.

Assistant District Attorney Christine Burke, of the District Attorney’s Government & Consumer Frauds Bureau, is handling the case for the prosecution. Mr. Tirado was arrested this morning by District Attorney Investigators and will be arraigned this afternoon in First District Court, Hempstead.

The charges are merely accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.