Former County Employee Sentenced For Disability Scam
James Robinson was caught on tape cutting trees at a Carney home after taking disability leave from the county.
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A Joppa man who was caught on video cutting trees after taking disability from the county was sentenced to jail Thursday in a Towson courtroom.
James Robinson was sentenced to five years in jail with all but six months suspended and must repay the county $49,000. Baltimore County Circuit Court Judge John Grason Turnbull also sentenced Robinson to five years unsupervised probation.
As a condition of the sentence, Robinson must repay the county $49,000 or be sent back to jail.
Robinson entered an Alford Plea in June. The plea is not admission of guilt but an acknowledgement that prosecutors have enough evidence to obtain a conviction should the case go to trial.
Robinson, who was on disability retirement as a laborer for the county, received more than $300,000 in payments from the county while on leave for an injury to his hand that he later claimed turned him into a paraplegic.
County officials became suspicious of the injury and hired a team of private investigators to follow Robinson.
Last year, the county cut off Robinson's disability payments. During a case before the county Board of Appeals, county attorneys presented more than two hours of video showing Robinson was far less disabled than he claimed.
In one clip, Robinson can be seen in his county-purchased wheelchair in the back yard of his father's Carney home.
In the video, Robinson is shown holding a pruning device with his right hand—the arm he claimed was severely injured. Later Robinson uses his right hand to pull the cord to cut branches before dragging the debris away.
Joe
5:55 pm on Thursday, September 6, 2012
He is far from alone.
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Tim
11:41 pm on Thursday, September 6, 2012
I'm honestly glad most of his sentence was suspended, pending his ability to pay back the money.
Tim
11:43 pm on Thursday, September 6, 2012
Also, there was a pretty contentious thread about this a while back, here:
http://perryhall.patch.com/articles/county-employee-pleads-guilty-after-faking-disability
Jimmy
8:16 am on Friday, September 7, 2012
They need to look at an ex paramedic that retired on a psych disability and months later was riding a volunteer medic...he collected a disability pension for 20 + years. Now, that pension is being deferred and he works for the county making over 120k as the volunteer liason...a job that used to pay $40 k...thanks kk
Buzz Beeler
9:48 am on Friday, September 7, 2012
Any wrongdoer should be punished under the law. It's a shame the same standard does not apply to elected officials.
Pete
11:02 am on Friday, September 7, 2012
@Jimmy..The law says you can come off disability and go back to work if cleared by a doctor.
Pete
11:03 am on Friday, September 7, 2012
Not that is legit..just clarifying the law about returning to work.
Thomas
11:24 am on Friday, September 7, 2012
Talk about cutting off the hand that feeds you !
artfxus
12:43 pm on Friday, September 7, 2012
Stole $300,000....repays $49,000...where is the remaining $251,000? Five years UNSUPERVISED probation and six months in jail and the pay off is $251,000.....where do I sign up?
Buzz Beeler
2:12 pm on Friday, September 7, 2012
The Democratic party.
ArcAngel
8:27 pm on Friday, September 7, 2012
Beeler, what the hell does the Democrat party have to do with it? A judge made that decision based on the law. Bleet, bleet, bleet says the sheep that wears the sheet.
Steve
10:54 pm on Friday, September 7, 2012
Beeker ran for office as a Democrat. He is a hypocrite. Anything he posts you should immediately discount.
Arlow
11:14 pm on Friday, September 7, 2012
The Republican Party.
artfxus
8:04 am on Sunday, September 9, 2012
seems my comment has sparked a lot of negativity that has little to do with the post itself....perhaps we could put that energy to better use by banding together to file a civil suit against this man....as a taxpayer, I want all the money returned....that was the original point....this man should have, at the very least, a zero in his profit column.....
Kevin Aylward
1:08 pm on Friday, September 7, 2012
I like to be open minded. Could be that he is capable to do this work for a few minutes at a time, but remains incapable to sustain such effort long enough to perform professionaly. Any man worth his salt would reel against the mental limitations of a physical handicap. But then again, he may be a slimy dirtbag just trying to scam the system for a free ride!
fred
3:06 pm on Friday, September 7, 2012
yet the county gets rid of employees that were cleared to work and wanted to work. then when the employees say they were wronged the county disagrees. baltimore county you can't have it both ways, make up your bi-polar mind on which policy you want to use.
Buzz Beeler
11:53 pm on Friday, September 7, 2012
Arc, don't you realize humor when you see it. The question was where do I sign up and I could not resist that one. It was a funny.
Interesting Steve calling me a hypocrite when he is into his third AKA. I guess he's not proud of his heritage of being Robert Armstrong any more. Is that what you call a turncoat?
Steve
11:57 am on Saturday, September 8, 2012
"Third AKA" ???? I don't have a clue what you are talking about.
What do you call somebody who tries to take advantage of something and then turns around and badmouths it??
I have a name. I just can't post it!
Buzz Beeler
4:54 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
You made he comment anything I posted should be discounted and I responded. If you don't like what I say than don't spew the negative comments towards me.
TERRENCE BATEMAN
12:16 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
Check out the B.C.F.P.E.. Balto. Co. Prison guards are famous fro pulling this scam.