Former restaurant manager in Seattle charged in disability scam

A man who managed several Seattle restaurants for nearly three years while illegally receiving more than $91,000 in workers compensation benefits is facing a felony theft charge, Washington State Department of Labor & Industries announced on Wednesday.

William T. Crawley, 48, is accused of wrongfully receiving more than $82,000 in wage replacement payments and nearly $9,400 in vocational rehabilitation benefits from the department, the department said in a statement.

Mr. Crawley was working as a bar manager when he slipped while moving beer into a restaurant cooler, injuring his ankle in 2007. The department provided him with a variety of workers comp benefits, including partial replacement of his wages and training to become a bookkeeper, according to the statement.

While conducting a routine investigation of work data in 2016, state investigators discovered Mr. Crawley had returned to work as a manager or assistant manager at a succession of four Seattle restaurants from June 2013 to March 2016, earning more than $104,000 over that period, according to the statement.