According to Insurancefraud.org, 23-year-old Meliton Hernandez Martinez Jr. of Merced County, CA was officially arraigned last month in connection to a violent altercation leading to stab wounds to his abdomen and arm, which he attempted to submit to his employer’s worker’s compensation carrier.
The Department of Insurance investigated the incident and revealed that Martinez was taking an approved break from his position with a construction company. According to surveillance video and witness statements, “Martinez made inappropriate gestures to a female in a parking lot and was then confronted by the female’s boyfriend, a former U.S. Marine, who asked Martinez to be respectful. Surveillance footage revealed Martinez began punching the boyfriend in the face multiple times, without provocation.”
The female’s boyfriend, as a means of self-defense (determined by law enforcement), brandished a knife and stabbed Martinez in the abdomen and arm. Martinez required airlifting to a local hospital, and later filed a workers’ compensation claim in addition to provided false statements about the incident.
The insurer denied all medical bills submitted for the claim after it was determined that Martinez was in fact the “initial physical aggressor,” and to top it off, a toxicology report uncovered alcohol and cannabis in his system at the time the physical altercation took place.
Martinez has been charged with multiple felony counts of insurance fraud and one misdemeanor count of filing a false police report.