Undercover agents take comp fraudster on kayaking trip

A three-day kayaking adventure with undercover federal agents helped crack the case of a U.S. Postal Service employee who claimed total disability, collecting more than half a million dollars in workers compensation benefits.

Deborah Durand, 55, was sentenced on Thursday in U.S. District Court to 15 months in prison for fraudulently obtaining more than $683,000 in benefits from the U.S. Department of Labor from 2006 until 2016, the Great Falls Tribune reported. She was ordered to pay more than $900,000 in restitution and criminal forfeiture, according to the newspaper article.

The U.S. Attorney's Office told reporters that Ms. Durand suffered a back injury while at her job at a post office and later had back surgery. She was unable to work for a period of time; however, instead of returning to work after her recovery, she filed for total disability status and received benefits for about 10 years.

Federal agents, meanwhile, sent Ms. Durand a fake survey in December 2014, asking of her hobbies. She listed kayaking and camping as part of her outdoor activities — tipping off investigators, according to the article.

The agents then posed as representatives of a marketing company and informed her she had won a free kayak trip.

Apparently not wanting to leave any room for doubt, the agents then went on a three-day kayaking tour with Ms. Durand, which included kayaking for about four to seven hours a day.

In a follow up survey, she said the demands of the trip were not difficult because “I’m fairly strong,” the paper reported.