New Hyde Park Man Arrested for Stealing Nearly $300K in Undeserved Disability Payments

While supposedly unfit to work and confined to wheelchair, Kumar is caught walking, driving and working a full-time job

MINEOLA, NY – Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced today that Chathapuram Kumar has been arrested and charged with collecting nearly $300,000 in undeserved disability claims and Social Security payments, all while working a full-time, $168,000-a-year job.

Kumar, 54, of New Hyde Park, was arrested by District Attorney Investigators Monday morning and charged with Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, Insurance Fraud in the Second Degree, and Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree. If convicted, Kumar faces up to 15 years in prison.

Rice said that on Jan. 15, 2004, Kumar filed a claim with his health insurance provider, Cigna, claiming that his Post Polio illness caused fatigue, leg muscle weakness, an inability to focus, and other symptoms, rendering him unable to work. He also filed for Social Security benefits Feb. 17, 2004 claiming that he couldn’t work. He collected more than $7,000 a month in disability and Social Security payments.

“Mr. Kumar abused a system designed to help people who are genuinely unable to work, and he did it to pad his own bank account,” Rice said.

Routine surveillance between Nov. 14 and Nov. 16, 2006 observed Kumar going to work at SVAM International, an Information-Technology firm where he is a consultant and recruiter earning $168,000 a year, without the aid of crutches or a wheelchair and entering his vehicle unassisted. Records showed that he had been employed at SVAM since May 2005. 

Mr. Kumar was arraigned Monday afternoon in First District Court, Hempstead before Judge Bonnie Chaikin. He was released on his own recognizance and is due back in court June 2.

Handling the case for the District Attorney’s Office is Assistant District Attorney Vickie Curran of the DA’s Government & Consumer Frauds Bureau. Assisting in the case is Special Agent in Charge Edward Ryan and Special Agent Scott McDermott of the Social Security Administration, the bureau that initiated the investigation. Kumar is represented by Michael Dowd, Esq.

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