A former Navy employee is accused of fraudulently collecting more than $600,000 in disability benefits over nearly 30 years.
John D. Hanson Jr. is likely to plead guilty in federal court Wednesday to making false statements to obtain federal employee compensation, according to court documents.
Authorities say Hanson, of Port Tobacco, Md., was working as a printer for the U.S. Navy when he reported an on-the-job injury in November 1978.
He then submitted records that claimed he was “permanently disabled” as a result of the injury, according to a charging document filed in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt.
Hanson began receiving worker’s compensation from the federal government in 1982.
Each year from 1983 to 2009, Hanson filed the forms required to continue receiving disability benefits “knowing them to contain false information,” according to court documents.
On the forms, authorities say, Hanson did not disclose that he was able to work and was self-employed refurbishing and repossessing cars, and doing construction and remodeling work.
From February 1983 to June 2009, he collected a total of $636,410 in disability benefits to which he was not entitled, prosecutors allege.
The documents that Hanson submitted to the Department of Labor’s Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs indicated that he had been unable to work “when in truth and in fact he had been self-employed” and had “derived earnings from performing construction and home-remodeling work,” the charging document says.
The worker’s compensation documents require disabled federal employees to disclose whether they have returned to work or if they are self-employed.
Hanson was charged in August by information, which indicates that a plea agreement is in the works. Defendants can only be charged by information if they waive their right to have a grand jury hear the evidence in the case.
A hearing before U.S. District Judge Roger W. Titus is scheduled for Wednesday morning.
Marcia Murphy, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Maryland, said the office could not comment before a plea is entered.
Hanson could face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, Murphy said.
Robert Spagnoletti, Hanson’s attorney, also said he could not comment before Wednesday’s hearing. He said he didn’t know whether Hanson wanted to comment on the case.
