OFF BEAT: Investigators get an eyeful in workers comp fraud case

Investigators who installed a surveillance camera near the home of a former postal worker eventually convicted of workers compensation fraud got more than they expected.

The husband of the female postal worker regularly enjoyed sipping his morning coffee while nude, investigators found in reviewing video from the camera placed atop a utility pole outside their Geneva, Ohio, home.

“The camera did record that on occasion,” an investigator told a local TV news station.

Karen Anderson-Bagshaw, the 49-year-old former U.S. Postal Service worker, recently was sentenced to a year in prison and must pay more than $70,000 in restitution, according to news reports.

She was a postal worker in 2002 when she claimed disability and began receiving workers comp benefits.

The payments stopped in 2011 after investigators learned she was operating an alpaca farm. Their video showed Ms. Anderson-Bagshaw carrying bags of feed, installing a walkway, mowing the lawn and cleaning up after the farm animals.

They also followed her during a Caribbean vacation, filming Ms. Anderson-Bagshaw lifting luggage, sitting for hours while gambling and jumping on a scooter.

Last fall, jurors convicted her on 13 counts of workers comp fraud, mail fraud and misleading her doctor about a back injury.

But who was the lucky investigator who traveled to the Caribbean in the name of justice?