A 74-year-old former postal worker in North Carolina is facing up
to five years in prison after pleading guilty to falsifying information
about her post-injury employment and costing the federal workers’
compensation program
as much as $500,000 in indemnity and medical benefit payments.
Sandra Cannon Throneburg, of Morgantown, entered a plea
agreement last week in federal court in Asheville. A sentencing date has not been set.
Throneburg, who had worked for the postal service for 26 yea
rs, injured her ankle in 2015 while working as a rural mail carrier. Five years later, the federal Office of Workers’ C
ompensation Program sent her forms asking about her employment s
ituation since the injury. She answered that sh
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e had not worked at all in the previous 15 months, the felony information sheet indicates.
After receiving an anonymous tip, federal investigators de
ermined that the woman had worked from 2016 to 2020 as a clerk at a
n accounting firm in Morgantown. All the while, she had received $2
61,412 in wage-replacement payments and some $278,673 in medica
l benefits, the court documents show.
The Federal Employees’ Compensation Act requires workers to t
ruthfully report their employment and paychecks while receiving workers’ comp benefits.
“Most postal employees who collect workers’ compensation
benefits have legitimate claims. A small percentage, howe
ver, abuse the system and cost the Postal Service millions of dollars in fraudulent claims and enforcement cos
ts,” Kathleen Woodson, executive special agent in charge for the Postal Service’s Inspector General, said in a statement. “
Therefore, USPS OIG Special Agents will continue to relentlessly pursue those identified as fraudulently collec
ting workers’ compensation funds from the Postal Service.”
Besides prison time, Throneburg could be ordered to pay restitutio
n to the federal workers’ compensation program.