Plea Expected in Baton Rouge Workers’ Compensation Fraud Case

A former Prairieville, La., resident is accused of stealing more than $215,000 from workers’ compensation cases and a service firm that managed those cases for insurance companies.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Cam T. Le said in a court filing that Cynthia D. Windham intends to plead guilty to one count of bank fraud.

Mark Upton, the assistant federal public defender for the Baton Rouge area, is assigned to Windham’s case.

Upton confirmed that, “She got a target letter, and we worked out a plea with the prosecutors.” He added, “No hearing has been set yet.”

The Advocate reports Windham was charged with bank fraud in a bill of information filed late on Jan. 8. Court records show Windham signed a waiver of her right to have a grand jury consider her case.

The case is assigned to Chief U.S. District Judge Brian A. Jackson.

Windham’s felony charge alleges she altered 62 checks, worth $83,879 and issued to other people by her employer, Strategic Case Management LLC. After those checks were altered, the charge written by Le alleges, they were deposited in Windham’s personal bank account.

Another 128 checks, totaling $132,099 and payable to Strategic Case Management, also were stolen by Windham, her charge alleges. Le alleged Windham “fraudulently endorsed the checks” before placing them in her personal account.

In a civil lawsuit filed against Windham in February 2010, Strategic Case Management said she was the firm’s “office manager, bookkeeper and collections and billing manager” for nine years before her firing in November 2009.

As in her federal charge, the company’s lawsuit in 19th Judicial District Court alleged that Windham stole money from the firm. The firm did not specify the loss in that suit.