Dance Instructor Ordered to Repay $23K in Insurance Benefits

An upstate New York man has been fined $750 — and ordered to repay $23,400 — for illegally collecting no-fault insurance benefits while working as a dance instructor.

Steven Blackmon, of Poughkeepsie, was sentenced after pleading guilty to insurance fraud late last month.

Blackmon was arrested following an investigation by the New York State Insurance Department’s Frauds Bureau.

Investigators found that Blackmon fraudulently collected no-fault insurance lost wage benefits from New York Central Mutual Insurance Co. after a car accident in 2009. He claimed he was physically unable to work because of the accident — but he worked as a dance instructor at multiple locations.