A 41-year-old Monsey volunteer firefighter who became a respected Rockland voice on fire prevention faces multiple fraud charges for working several jobs while out on disability and accepting more than $100,000 in state benefits.
Raphael Ziegler, the Monsey Fire Department president and a former New Hempstead fire inspector, took state worker's compensation payments while out on disability and working other jobs, authorities said Thursday.
He also accepted Medicaid payments for his transportation business after not providing his employees with required workers compensation, state Inspector General Leahy Scott said Thursday in a joint news release with acting Rockland District Attorney Kevin Gilleece. “These charges lay out this defendant’s myriad schemes to conceal and defraud his way to six-figures in ill-gotten gains,” Scott said. “The Workers’ Compensation and Medicaid systems are both critical safety nets in our state, and any theft from or abuse of those programs will not be tolerated.”