Workers’ comp fraud
Workers’ comp fraud
Columbus
An Austintown man must repay more than $27,000 he defrauded from the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation.
Randall Schornack was sentenced Jan. 10 in Franklin County court to 18 months in prison, which was suspended for five years of community control. He’s also forced to pay $27,202 in restitution to the BWC.
The bureau’s Special Investigation Department received an anonymous tip that Schornack was working as a disc jockey at area bars under the name “DJ Randy Stevens,” according to a news release.
The investigation determined that Schornack was working as a DJ for several bars in Mayfield and also for a professional DJ service in Girard while receiving temporary total disability benefits.
Investigators obtained video of Schornack unloading and carrying speakers and other equipment from his vehicle into various establishments on a weekly basis and performing work services as a DJ.
Grant from FEMA
Austintown
The Austintown Fire Department was awarded a grant to fund the purchase of hazardous-material equipment.
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, announced Thursday that the department will receive $990 through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency Assistance to Firefighters Grants program.
They will use the money for several monitoring and sampling devices for hazardous materials.
“Our first-responders put their lives on the line every day across Ohio,” Brown said. “These funds ensure that firefighters in Austintown have the resources they need to perform their jobs safely.”
The Assistance to Firefighters Grants program is an integral component in the Department of Homeland Security’s effort to strengthen the nation’s general level of preparedness and capacity to respond to fire and related dangers, according to FEMA.
Attempted abduction
YOUNGSTOWN
A 14-year-old Youngstown boy told police a man tried to coax him into a van while he was walking home from school Thursday afternoon.
The boy told police he was walking home from Summit Academy near Williamson and Erie streets when a man driving a newer van stopped and asked how far he had to walk. The man offered a ride, but the teen refused to get into the van. The teen said the man began to curse at him then fled in the van.
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