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 a
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 y
s a rural mail carrier. Five years later, the federal Office of Workers’
Compensation Program sent her forms asking about her employment situation since the injury. She answered tha
t she had not worked at all in the previous 15 months, the felony information sheet indicates.
After receiving an anonymous tip, federal investigators determined that the woman had worked
from 2016 to 20
20 as a clerk at an accounting firm in Morgantown. All the
while, she had received $261,412 in wage-replacement paymen
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ts and some $278,673 in medical benefits, the court documents show.
The Federal Employees’ Compensation Act requires workers
to truthfully report their employment and paychecks while receiving workers’ comp benefits.
“Most postal employees who collect workers’ compensati
on benefits have legitimate claims. A small percentage, how
ever, abuse the system and cost the Postal Service millions of dollars in fraudulent claims and enforcement
costs,” Kathleen Woodson, executive special agent in charge for
the Postal Service’s Inspector General, said in a statement. “Theref
ore, USPS OIG Special Agents will continue to relentlessly pursue t
hose identified as fraudulently collecting workers’ compensation funds from the Postal Service.”
Besides prison time, Throneburg could be ordered to pay restitution to the federal workers’ compensation program.