WA Dairy Worker Pleads Guilty to $122K in Fraudulent L-I Claims

WA State Labor and Industries said Monday a 58-year-old Western WA dairy farm worker will repay $140K to the state.

  The worker filed numerous fraudulent disability claims

In 2006, Efrain Alatorre Camarena fell and hurt his back and neck chasing a wayward cow on the Skagit Valley dairy farm he was working at.

He filed a claim with L-I and a doctor he couldn't work due to the injuries. That included signing documents testifying he couldn't work, in order to get compensation for his lost wages.  He received off and on benefits for 9 years, but the fraud charges only apply to the last 3.

L-I investigators found he was working at a dairy farm despite still receiving claim money:

"In 2023, L&I investigators conducting a routine comparison of L&I and state Employment Security Department (ESD) data discovered Alatorre was working despite telling L&I that he wasn’t able to. The ESD records, along with paystubs from another Skagit County dairy, revealed he had been working at the farm while he was receiving wage-replacement payments."

Get our free mobile app

Officials said he earned $172K at the farm, as well as $122K from L-I.  He will have to pay back $140K in total due to the amount L-I says he stole, and penalties.