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Snow-plowing lawn man convicted of comp fraud

Posted On: Dec. 14, 2018 10:50 AM CST

Snow-plowing lawn man convicted of comp fraud

A northeast Ohio business owner must pay the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation nearly $34,000 in restitution after the agency found him working and running a business while collecting disability benefits, the bureau announced Friday.

Gabriel Seda of Grafton, Ohio, pleaded guilty Dec. 6 to a fifth-degree felony count of workers compensation fraud and was also sentenced to five years of probation, according to a statement.

“Our investigation found Mr. Seda plowing snow, mowing lawns and landscaping for a business he owned, GS Snow Removal and Lawn Care,” Jim Wernecke, director of BWC’s special investigations department, said in the statement. “Clearly, he wasn’t so disabled that he couldn’t work.”

Meanwhile, the owner of a graphic design and screen-printing shop in Springfield, Ohio, who failed to turn herself in to the court earlier this year pleaded guilty to “failure to comply” Dec. 3 after BWC’s fugitive task force tracked her down in November, according to the BWC.

A judge fined Beth Turner, owner of Flashions Ltd. in Springfield, was running her business with employees under lapsed BWC coverage, according to a statement. She was charged in May after she stopped cooperating with BWC to bring her policy back into compliance. She has since done so.

She was fined $100 and court costs for the minor misdemeanor charge, according to the statement.