CORTLAND WOMAN ACCUSED OF WORKERS’ COMP FRAUD

A 27-year-old Cortland woman was arrested Tuesday for workers’ compensation fraud and perjury after she accepted more than $31,000 in workers’ compensation benefits while claiming a job-related injury prevented her from working.

The New York State Insurance Department reported that Tara L. Horton, of 10 Northcliff Rd., was arrested by Syracuse police. She was arrested following an investigation by Anthony J. Sobon of the Insurance Department’s Frauds Bureau, the Inspector General’s office of the New York State Compensation Board and the New York State Insurance Fund.

Horton is charged with making false statements and submitting false testimony to the Workers’ Compensation Board to receive benefits. She claimed that an April 2006 back injury she suffered while she was a health aide prevented her from working or attending school. Investigators learned that she was attending school full-time.

She was released pending a hearing to be scheduled in Onondaga County Court.