Skagit County Dairy Worker Pleads Guilty to $140K Workers' Compensation Fraud

Efrain Alatorre Camarena, a 58-year-old dairy worker from Skagit County, Washington, pleaded guilty to three counts of third-degree theft for illegally collecting over $122,000 in workers' compensation payments while working at a dairy farm. Injured in 2006 while chasing a runaway cow, Alatorre was initially deemed unable to work and received wage replacement benefits intermittently for nine years. However, a 2023 investigation by Washington State Labor & Industries (L&I) revealed that he had been working at another dairy during the last three and a half years of receiving benefits, resulting in charges for fraud. A Skagit County Superior Court judge ordered him to repay over $140,000, including the stolen amount plus interest, and sentenced him to 160 hours of community service and two years probation. L&I emphasized its commitment to prosecuting workers' compensation fraud to protect truly injured workers. Alatorre has begun repaying the funds and now carries a criminal record due to his conviction.