Man Ordered To Repay $340K In One Of Washington’s Largest Workers’ Comp Scams

A delivery driver who used his wife’s name to try to pull off one of the state’s largest workers’ compensation fraud cases has been ordered to pay back nearly $340,000.

Robert J. Strasbaugh, who was receiving a workers’ comp pension when he was caught, pleaded guilty on Monday to felony first-degree theft in the case.

Thurston County Superior Court Judge Chris Lanese ordered the Renton man to repay the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) more than $339,900. The judge also sentenced Strasbaugh to 45 days in electronic home monitoring.

Strasbaugh, who has already begun to pay back the state, stole nearly $342,000 in workers’ comp, pension, and vocational benefits from 2012 to early 2017.

The amount is one of L&I’s largest workers’ compensation fraud cases in recent memory.