Meter reader with six dogs at home claims dog bite caused PTSD
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A meter reader in Cathlamet, Washington, claimed she could not go back to work because of a dog bite and subsequent post-traumatic stress disorder was found to have six dogs at home and a different diagnosis — malingering —according to her doctor.
Linda Lashell Jordan was changed with workers compensation fraud after collecting $186,000 for her injury and subsequent mental health diagnosis that she claimed left her unable to work because she would faint at the sight of dogs, the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries reported Friday.
The department began investigating her in 2018, more than a decade after she was bitten by a dog while working for the Pacific County Public Utility District and four years after claiming her “dog phobia” made her disabled. An investigator, pretending to visit her home to buy building materials, was greeted by three small French bulldogs. Later, he watched her three large boxers swarm around her, according to the department.
Ms. Jordan “did not faint or appear frightened to be with the dogs, and let the investigator photograph her with two of the boxers.” She explained that she and her husband had been rescuing and fostering boxers for 30 years, and even warned the investigator that one of her recently rescued dogs might bite, the department said.
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