PORTLAND (Sep 18, 2008) - A Cumberland County grand jury handed up indictments last week for three southern Maine men for crimes related to Workers' Compensation fraud.

Landon Logsdon of Steep Falls, Ken Villella of Biddeford and Peter Ronfeldt of Limington were each indicted by the Cumberland County Superior Court's Grand Jury on the same day. Each of the indicted men had been collecting Workers' Compensation insurance payments from leading Workers' Compensation insurer Maine Employers' Mutual Insurance Company. When investigations of the cases caused suspicion, the company's investigators handed the cases over to the Attorney General's office.

The company said it routinely investigates 15 percent of its cases, finding fewer than 5 percent contain elements of fraud. While most of the investigations confirm the legitimacy of the injury, some warrant further efforts.

Logsdon, who was indicted on one count of theft by deception, has been ordered by the Maine Workers' Comp Board to repay about $19,000 after a finding showed that he falsely reported an injury to his employer and then attended training for another employer while supposedly being unable to work. He repeatedly misrepresented his injury to medical providers.

Villella, indicted on one count of theft by deception, was collecting total disability payments under Workers' Compensation while allegedly working as a part-time carpenter while collecting about $10,000.

Ronfeldt was indicted for one count of perjury, which is alleged to have occurred in a Workers' Compensation hearing, when he falsely reported that he was not working for another employer. Ronfeldt had been out of work from his first employer while collecting total disability payments of about $5,000.

"Workers' Compensation fraud is insidious," said MEMIC president and CEO John T. Leonard. "When people try to take advantage of a system that is meant to serve legitimately injured workers, they give the whole system a black eye."

Based in Portland, Maine Employers' Mutual Insurance Company is Maine's largest and leading Workers' Compensation insurer, providing coverage to more than 21,000 Maine employers and their estimated 170,000 employees.