North Baltimore man guilty of worker-benefits fraud

4/6/2011

COLUMBUS — A North Baltimore, Ohio, man has pleaded guilty to one count of fraud for remodeling homes and opening a hardware store while receiving workers’ compensation benefits.

Harold Haynes became the subject of an investigation by the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation after an area TV station featured him in a 2009 story about the opening of Haynes Hardware. He was getting temporary total disability benefits for a workplace injury. Agents investigated and determined he was self-employed while receiving benefits from March 15, 2008, to Nov. 24, 2008, and from Nov. 2, 2009, to January, 2010.

After pleading guilty last month in Franklin County, Haynes was sentenced to two years community control and ordered to pay restitution of $11,534.71, plus $2,000 in investigative costs. If he violates terms of his community control, he will have to serve a year in prison.