Washington Dairy Worker Convicted in $122K Workers’ Compensation Fraud

Efrain Alatorre Camarena, a 58-year-old dairy worker from Skagit County, Washington, pleaded guilty to three counts of third-degree theft in relation to illicitly collecting workers’ compensation benefits. Accumulating more than $140,000 in debt to the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, Alatorre will repay $122,000 stolen over a three-and-a-half-year period, including accruing interest. Despite prior injuries that ostensibly incapacitated him from work beginning in 2006, Alatorre was found working at another dairy farm while still receiving compensation payments. This discovery emerged from an investigation by the Washington State Office of the Attorney General, revealing earnings of $172,000 from this additional work that coincided with the illicit $122,000 worker's comp benefits received from January 2020 through mid-August 2023. The court further sentenced Alatorre to 160 hours of community service and two years of probation.