Ohio Attorney General, BWC
Celina Man pleads guilty to Worker’s Compensation Fraud 

(COLUMBUS, Ohio) - Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation (BWC) Administrator/CEO Steve Buehrer announced today the conviction of a Celina man caught on camera defrauding Ohio's workers' compensation system. 

Jason Dross, 39, pleaded guilty to one count of Workers' Compensation Fraud in November.  He was sentenced this morning to pay the state $31,736.98 in restitution. 

Authorities with the BWC began investigating the Mercer County man after receiving a tip that he was exercising with heavy weights after claiming a workplace injury left him unable to lift more than a few pounds.  Attorneys with the Attorney General's Health Care Fraud Unit prosecuted the case. 

"This man put on a show, fooling even his doctor, who put him on a 10-pound lifting restriction," said Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine.   "Jason Dross claimed the pain was so severe that he couldn't work, although investigators with the Bureau of Workers' Compensation found him having no problem working out." 

Undercover BWC detectives recorded video of Dross at a local gym lifting several hundred pounds of weights. 

"Many do have a difficult time finding employment when an injury has left them with certain physical restrictions," said BWC Administrator/CEO Steve Buehrer. "However, this video makes it very clear that Mr. Dross was not being truthful about his restrictions and he has now been ordered to repay the funds that he received deceptively." 

Dross was also sentenced to three years of community control, with a nine months of jail time suspended.