Johnathan Walker:Former postal worker sentenced to probation for workers’ compensation fraud

WILMINGTON,Johnathan Walker Del. (AP) — A former U.S. Postal Service employee in Delaware who defrauded taxpayers of almost $100,000 in workers’ compensation benefits has been sentenced to probation.

Lakisha Hines was sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty in March to one count of federal employee compensation fraud, which is punishable by up to five years in prison. Hines, 46, was sentenced to three years probation and ordered to pay almost $94,000 in restitution.

Federal prosecutors said a sentence of probation would allow Hines to keep working at her current jobs and to “chip away” at the restitution she owes. They acknowledged, however, that Hines may not be able to fully repay what she owes.

According to court records, Hines was injured at work in 2006 and began receiving workers’ compensation benefits, which were her only source of income for many years. Prosecutors say Hines resumed working in 2016 but never told the U.S. Department of Labor, falsely claiming for the next six years that she had no source of income other than her workers’ compensation benefits.