Worker who got $186K in ‘dog phobia’ case owned dogs all along, WA officials say
A meter reader was attacked by a dog while on duty, which gave her such a strong fear of dogs she couldn’t work anymore and fainted at the sight of them, she told the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries.
Linda Jordan, 52, of Cathlamet, collected workers’ compensation benefits for the next several years for the “dog phobia” she sustained, according to the department.
Now she stands accused of stealing $186,000 from the agency, a news release said.
A dog bit Jordan while she was working as a meter reader for the Pacific County Public Utility District in March 2007, according to L&I. She filed an injury claim, which was closed “and then reopened in 2014 when her doctor said she fainted whenever she saw dogs and could not return to work,” the release said.
In 2018, a claim manager suspected there was something wrong with the case and L&I opened an investigation.
An L&I investigator went to Jordan’s property, pretending to buy bricks from her, the release said. The agent was “greeted by three small French bulldogs” when he arrived and “watched her three large boxers swarm around her,” according to L&I.
“Jordan did not faint or appear frightened to be with the dogs, and let the investigator photograph her with two of the boxers,” the release said.
She told the agent that she and her husband rescued and fostered boxers over the last 30 years, “and even warned the investigator that one of her recently rescued dogs might bite,” according to the news release.
The investigation also revealed Jordan used Facebook accounts under different names to sell and search for dogs to breed, the agency said. After an investigator showed a psychiatrist, who once treated Jordan, evidence that she was not fearful of dogs, the doctor changed her diagnosis from “post-traumatic stress disorder and dog phobia to malingering,” according to the release.
“He found that Jordan was actually capable of returning to work as a meter reader in September 2016,” L&I said in its release.
Jordan’s arraignment is scheduled for Oct. 12. She is charged with one count of first-degree felony theft in Wahkiakum County for “wrongfully receiving nearly $163,000 in wage-replacement payments, plus more than $23,000 in vocational and medical services, from 2016 to 2019.”
“The defendant’s alleged actions in this case are so blatant it’s astounding,” said Chris Bowe, assistant director of L&I’s Fraud Prevention and Labor Standards, according to the news release. “We do not tolerate people who intentionally defraud the workers’ comp system.”
