Six more members of
the Indiana/Kentucky/Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters have been charged
in connection with a scheme to steal assets from the union’s healthcare
benefit program, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of
Indiana said.
Charged with one
count each of healthcare theft were the following:
* Aaron Merkel, 36,
of Valparaiso.
* Brian Ellis, 46,
of Hobart.
* Daniel Rehfeldt,
49, also of Hobart.
* Ryan Cundiff, 40,
of Crown Point.
* Christopher
LeBell, 36, of Cedar Lake.
* Eric Murray, 37,
of Williamsburg, Ohio.
According to the
documents filed in this case, these six and five other members of the
Indiana/Kentucky/Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters requested reimbursement
of medical expenses by submitting to the union’s welfare fund a fraudulent
claim form and a copy of an un-negotiated personal check for reimbursement.
“These documents
gave the appearance that the defendants had paid a reimbursable health care
expense,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. “Claims were processed from the
union welfare fund reimbursing the defendants for these health care expenses
that were never actually incurred.”
Previously charged
with the same count are Bradley Crostreet, 45, of Valparaiso; Aaron Vaughan,
35, of Lake Station; Robert Gutierrez, 38, of Hammond; and Dennis Gardner,
52, and Joshua Westfall, 38, both of LaPorte.
The U.S. Attorney’s
Office did not say how much the six most recently charged members are
alleged to have stolen from the welfare fund but the previously charged five
are accused of improperly receiving reimbursement in amounts ranging from
$6,380 to $19,771.
The case was
investigated by the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of the Inspector
General, and the Employee Benefits Security Administration.