Judge was permitted to calculate comp fraud restitution: Appeals court

A trial judge was permitted to calculate monetary restitution in a workers compensation criminal fraud case, despite the defendant arguing that the decision should have been left to jurors, the Alaska Court of Appeals ruled Friday. 

The appellate court said a judge did not err in ordering Scott Abraham Groom to pay $259,881.12 in restitution after he was convicted of engaging in a scheme to obtain more than $10,000 in state workers comp funds.

Mr. Groom and his codefendant, Laurayne Fischer, had submitted false claims to the Alaska Division of Risk Management seeking reimbursement for medical treatments that Ms. Fischer purportedly provided to Mr. Groom.

Mr. Groom had been awarded a workers comp settlement that entitled him to reimbursement for the cost of medical treatment. Ms. Fischer filled out forms stating that she provided treatment to Mr. Groom, but she never actually treated him, according to the ruling.

Both defendants were charged with multiple felonies. Ms. Fischer pleaded guilty, but Mr. Groom’s case went to trial, during which a jury convicted him on all but one criminal count in the indictment.

Mr. Groom appealed the sentence, arguing that his constitutional rights were violated because a jury, not a judge, must calculate restitution.

The appeals court disagreed, saying judges are permitted to order restitution. The court likened the process to a criminal judge calculating a prison sentence following a jury’s verdict.