Bull Riding Doesn’t Pay

A Redding man who rode bulls in his spare time was arrested for workers’ compensation fraud. The man, 29-year-old Robert Lee Locke, filed a workers’ comp claim with State Compensation Insurance Fund (SCIF) after allegedly injuring his right arm on Sept. 21, 1998. Locke claimed that he was unable to use his right arm after falling from a truck while working as a truck driver for Dick Dunn Trucking.

CDI investigators found that the trucking company received an anonymous tip that Locke had been bull riding during his time off work due to his injured arm. He was videotaped riding a bull in July and August 1999, and failed to report these activities to his treating doctor. In a Sept. 24 deposition, Locke stated that he had not ridden a bull since his injury.

He was charged with two felony counts of insurance fraud and one felony count of perjury, and faces up to five years in prison and/or fines up to $50,000 if convicted.

SCIF paid out more than $36,900 in benefits as a result of Locke’s allegedly fraudulent claim.