Alaskan USPS employee sentenced in disability fraud

A U.S. Postal Service employee working in Anchorage, Alaska, was sentenced last week to two-and-a-half years in prison for faking disabilities and collecting federal disability payments, the Justice Department said.

Amancio Zamora Agcaoili, Jr., who also will serve three years of supervised release after serving the sentence, earlier had pleaded guilty to 10 counts of wire fraud, theft of government funds, Federal Employees’ Compensation Act fraud, and Social Security fraud.

According to DOJ, Agcaoili received both federal workers’ compensation from the Department of Labor Office of Workers’ Compensation Program, as well as disability payments from the Social Security Administration Disability Insurance Benefits program, by claiming his injuries prevented him from working, and by hiding the fact that he was receiving income from preparing immigration paperwork and tax returns for hundreds of people out of an office located behind his house.

Agcaoili also failed to notify the Labor Department and the Social Security Administration that he was getting payments from both agencies. In all, DOJ said, he received at least $365,831 in disability payments, which he was ordered to pay back to the agencies in restitution. He also will forfeit $14,141 in cash that was seized from his residence.

DOJ said that although Agcaoili claimed to be disabled and walked with a cane during doctor's visits, he nonetheless "went dipnetting and fishing every year on the Copper River and the Kenai River, went dancing and sledding, and took vacations to Hawaii, Canada, and the Philippines."

The case was investigated by the USPS Office of the Inspector General, and the SSA Office of the Inspector General.