News Release
07/30/2009
Former Weyerhauser Employee Pleads Guilty to Fraud
A former Weyerhauser employee paid almost $5,000 restitution after pleading guilty yesterday to workers’ compensation fraud, Attorney General Drew Edmondson said.
Patrick A. Aebischer was sentenced to a six-month deferred sentence on one count of workers’ compensation fraud. He was ordered to pay $4,986.32 in restitution, $250 court fund assessment, $100 victim compensation assessment plus court costs.
Aebischer pleaded guilty to making false statements in workers’ compensation claims for cumulative injuries to his hands, arms, shoulders, lungs and hearing allegedly sustained during 26 years of employment with Weyerhauser. According to the state’s complaint, Aebischer falsified information regarding the limits of the physical tasks he performs in his new job as a trash truck driver. Additionally, Aebischer indicated on his application for this new job that he did not have any physical limitations.
Aebischer was charged Dec. 9, 2008, in Tulsa County District Court.
Edmondson’s workers’ compensation fraud unit has statewide jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute workers’ compensation fraud. Anyone with information regarding workers’ compensation fraud can call the attorney general’s workers’ compensation fraud hotline toll-free at (877) 800-8764.