New Billboards Warn Workers’ Comp Cheaters

The Ventura County district attorney’s office Thursday unveiled four billboards promising tough action against workers’ compensation fraud.

“The purpose of the billboards is deterrence,” said Frederick Bysshe Jr., past president of the Ventura County Bar Assn. and a member of Workers’ Compensation Fraud Prosecution Unit’s advisory council.

The goal is also “to make the general public aware that the district attorney’s office has assigned an investigator and a prosecuting attorney to a specialized unit that is concentrating on workers’ comp fraud,” he said.

The billboards, which show a fist slamming down a gavel, have bold yellow letters that warn: “We’ll Nail Workers’ Comp Cheaters.”

The signs bear Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury’s name and a phone number for people to report suspicious claims.

Authorities say workers’ compensation fraud is the biggest problem facing employers in Ventura County and across the state. Since state and local crackdowns against the crime began in recent years, overall claims have decreased by up to 40%, according to figures from the California Workers’ Compensation Institute.

“There is no doubt that efforts like our billboard program will reduce workers’ compensation fraud even further,” said Lee Ingraham, a member of the Simi Valley Chamber of Commerce and the advisory council. “Eliminating workers’ compensation fraud is one of our highest priorities.”

One billboard is at West 5th Street near Pacific Avenue in Oxnard. Another is on California 126 in Fillmore; the other two are in western Ventura County, Ingraham said.