Ex- Santa Clara Police Officer Charged With Workers' Comp Fraud; Wife Was Convicted Of Same
SANTA CLARA (CBS SF) -- A bodybuilding former Santa Clara police officer was charged this week with faking an injury to defraud the city of thousands of dollars in disability payments, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office.
Kenneth Henderson, 53, faces incarceration if convicted of felony workers' compensation fraud charges. He will be arraigned Wednesday in the county's Hall of Justice in San Jose.
Henderson's wife Mandy Henderson, a former Santa Clara County Sheriff's lieutenant, was arrested and convicted last year for felony workers' compensation fraud, and served time under house arrest for her felony charge.
"Those involved in this type of fraud are stealing from a system intended to help law enforcement officers who are seriously injured while protecting the public," Deputy District Attorney Vonda Tracey said in a statement.
According to the district attorney's office, Kenneth Henderson claimed to have been injured while picking up a stack of five traffic cones on Oct. 18, 2015. He permanently retired from his position in 2016, supposedly because of the injury, and received disability payments following his retirement.
"We're not alleging that he wasn't injured in some way," Tracey said, but she added that the county is looking to get money back from Henderson for a time period they found him to be healthier than he claimed in order to receive disability after retirement.
On July 29 of last year, the district attorney's office began investigating Kenneth Henderson after being tipped off about his rigorous workouts at a 24 Hour Fitness center in Las Vegas, prosecutors said.
Tracey said the county is seeking restitution totaling about $30,000 in legal and medical fees for a time after they first received a surveillance video of Kenneth Henderson completing bodybuilding workouts in January 2018, though she added that he was not receiving disability payments during the time he was surveilled.
Mandy Henderson, who also competed in bodybuilding, was also being surveilled and was under investigation by the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office at the time because of her own supposed workers' compensation fraud attempts.
She later pleaded no contest to the charges and was given three years probation along with being ordered to pay restitution.
Tracey said the former officer likely faces probation, but could face up to five years of incarceration if convicted. He is currently out of custody on $25,000 bail.
