CLEVELAND, OH (WOIO) -
Karen Anderson-Bagshaw, of Geneva, was sentenced in Federal Court Wednesday. Anderson-Bagshaw, a former USPS letter carrier was convicted in October after a weeklong trial on one count of mail fraud and 13 counts of worker's compensation fraud.
She was sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison, 2 years of supervised probation, and was ordered to pay $71,887.50 in restitution. Evidence at trial showed Bagshaw failed to report she owned and operated an Alpaca farm, and was captured on video exceeding her claimed physical limitations, including traveling on a seven day Caribbean cruise.
Bagshaw is the third Cleveland area USPS employee convicted in the last two years on workers compensation fraud charges. Previously, former mail handler Tonia Anderson, Akron, OH was convicted on April 3, 2010 after trial, and sentenced on November 15, 2010 to 8 months house arrest, 40 hours community service, 4 years probation, and $14, 988 restitution. Former truck driver Norman Motko, Cleveland, OH, pleaded guilty on July 8, 2010, and was sentenced on January 27, 2011 to 5 months imprisonment, 3 years probation, and $116,980 restitution.
All 3 investigations were lead by Special Agents with the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General (USPS OIG). The USPS OIG is a federal law enforcement agency within the Postal Service responsible for investigation of crimes committed by USPS employees. The USPS OIG is a separate organization from the Postal Inspection Service, who are commonly called postal inspectors.
Last year, the USPS paid in excess of $1 billion in workers compensation related costs. Investigations by Special Agents with the USPS OIG resulted in a savings of about $200 million.
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