CLEVELAND — A Portage County man was sentenced to more than two years in prison last week for a long-running scheme to illegally receive nearly $1 million in Ohio workers’ compensation benefits, state officials say.
Windham resident Michael Honaker, 54, was found to have lied to the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation about his physical and cognitive abilities in an effort to take over $900,000 in social security and disability benefits from state and federal coffers since 1998. His case began with the BWC but was eventually elevated to a joint federal investigation by the Social Security Administration and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
“Honaker’s selfish actions put HUD’s housing assistance programs at significant risk and jeopardized the amount of available funding to low-income families who rely on these programs,” said Special Agent in Charge Shawn Rice with the HUD Office of Inspector General. “HUD OIG will continue to work with its prosecutorial and law enforcement partners to vigorously pursue those who seek to profit by abusing HUD-funded programs.”…