Injured mail carrier goes for gold in comp scheme

A Jersey City, New Jersey, mail carrier who claims she suffered a knee injury on the job got carried away with her own lucrative jewelry business while collecting $150,000 in federal workers compensation benefits, the Monmouth Daily News reported.

Federal investigators reported that Monique Gee certified on comp claim forms that she did not receive earnings from employment outside of her federal job, all the while identifying herself on social media as a self-employed costume jewelry operator.

Authorities discovered the operation – from which she “received substantial income” – after an undercover officer “placed an order from Gee’s business and made a payment for the order via a mobile payment platform,” an investigator told the newspaper.

Charged with “knowingly and willfully falsifying, concealing, and covering up a material fact, and making a false, fictitious, and fraudulent statement and representation in connection with the application for and receipt of federal workers compensation benefits,” a federal judge in Newark, New Jersey, released Ms. Gee on $150,000 unsecured bond, with conditions, following a court appearance on Thursday.