A 63-year-old Lakewood man is facing criminal charges for taking tens of thousands of dollars in workers compensation payments over nearly seven years for a shoulder injury while he allegedly continued to work on roofs.
Investigators with the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries took photographs of the man, Patrick Dean Farthing, installing roofs, moving equipment and heavy materials on and off job sites and directing work crews in 2018 while he accepted wage replacement money for his injury, according to a news release from the department. Farthing allegedly continued to accept payments until January 2021, collecting more than $54,000.
"When we hear about fraud, we investigate," said Celeste Monahan, assistant director for L&I's Fraud Prevention and Labor Standards division. "Cheaters seem to think that stealing workers' comp benefits doesn't hurt anyone. But it's taking money from legitimately injured workers, and everyone whose hard-earned dollars support the workers' compensation system."
Farthing is to be arraigned Dec. 27 in Thurston County Superior Court on one count of first-degree theft, according to the release. The state Attorney General's Office is prosecuting the case.
Investigators said Farthing was injured on the job in 2010 while repairing a roof. A medical provider determined it was severe enough that he couldn't work as a roofer. Farthing allegedly claimed then that he wasn't working in any job, and he qualified for temporary wage replacement payments and then for a pension.
The payments Farthing is accused of wrongfully taking began in mid-2014. According to L&I, bank records and invoices obtained by investigators showed he was buying roofing materials in 2014 and sometimes used the name Adam Lay or did business as Pat Farthing Roofing.
In 2018, the agency began investigating Farthing after it received a tip he was working as a roofer. A team of investigators determined he was running his own business doing roofing work throughout the South Sound.
Construction compliance investigators also issued Farthing civil infractions for unregistered contracting after he and his work crews were caught roofing houses in Spanaway and Olympia in 2018.
