AUGUSTA -- Attorney General Janet Mills announced that Daniel H. Reavis, age 53, of South Paris, Maine, has pled guilty in the Cumberland County Unified Criminal Docket to theft by deception from MEMIC, Inc., a workers' compensation insurer based in Portland, Maine. Pursuant to the agreement with the State, Reavis' sentencing is deferred until March 20, 2020. During that time, Reavis will be required to pay $10,409 in restitution. If he pays the restitution, he will serve 30 days in jail. If he fails to pay full restitution, he will serve 90 days in jail.
Reavis was working as a fuel oil delivery driver for Fielding's Oil Company on June 26, 2013, when he claimed to have sustained a head injury falling from his truck in Hebron. MEMIC initially paid weekly compensation payments to Reavis on behalf of his employer. Months later, Reavis was still claiming that his head injury prevented him from driving. He repeated that claim to the insurer, physicians and other providers.
Surveillance video showed that by September 2013, when he still claimed to be unable to work or drive, Reavis was starting his own wine distribution business, Tannery Street Wine Company. He alone drove the Tannery Street Wine van, making deliveries to stores throughout Oxford and Cumberland Counties, from Norway to Cape Elizabeth.
Based upon the surveillance videos, and after consultation with a medical expert who reviewed those videos, MEMIC stopped payments to Reavis in March 2013. By the time the fraud was uncovered, MEMIC had paid Reavis over $16,000 from the date of the alleged injury, and over $10,000 from the date of the first surveillance video of his activities.
"The worker's compensation system was established to ensure that employees who receive injuries on the job receive fair compensation," said Mills. "People who make fraudulent claims increase the cost of business in Maine, hurting both employers and workers. Our Office will hold accountable anyone who abuses the system -- employers who fail to obtain coverage and employees who file false claims," Mills said. "The goal is to provide full and prompt compensation to people injured on the job."
Paul H. Sighinolfi, the Chairman and Executive Director of the Maine Workers' Compensation Board, commented that employee fraud is a problem that arises on occasion in Maine. It benefits the system as a whole when it is identified to have it aggressively addressed. Prosecutions like this let those in the system know we are supportive of injured workers, but have little tolerance for those who abuse the system.
Attorney General Mills praised Senior Assistant Attorney General Leanne Robbin for her work on this case.