A California correctional sergeant was recently arrested for workers' compensation insurance fraud after collecting $115,000 in workers' comp benefits while earning $130,000 as a real estate agent.

Steven Michael Shadden, 32, a correctional sergeant at San Quentin State Prison, filed a workers' compensation injury claim for his left ankle. Five months later, the workers' compensation carrier hired a private investigator to track Shadden's activities for a two-day period. During that time, the private investigator discovered that Shadden was working as a real estate agent. He was videotaped performing activities inconsistent with his work restrictions advised by his doctors.

Nearly one year after he filed the claim, Shadden submitted a Disability Retirement Election Application to the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), stating he was not working. CalPERS then contacted the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's Office of Internal Affairs with information from its investigation unit that verified Shadden was, in fact, working for a real estate company in Elk Grove. He earned approximately $130,000 selling real estate and continued to write loans while collecting benefits from the workers' comp carrier — and still claimed he was unable to work as a correctional sergeant at San Quentin. Shadden mailed his report of income earnings to the carrier, documenting $100,000 less than what he really earned while working as a real estate agent.