CHICAGO — Six former railroad employees face charges carrying prison sentences up to 20 years, as well as cash penalties ranging from $10,000 to more than $270,000, after being indicted for alleged disability-benefits fraud, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois has announced.
The six are accused of working other jobs while providing false information to the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board’s Disability Benefits Division, and were charged as part of an ongoing national investigation of Railroad Retirement Board fraud by rail workers and their families.
Charged are Scott Carlberg, 50, of Menomonie, Wis., a former Soo Line engineer; Ronald Lee Cribbs, 49, of Hastings, Fla.; a former CSX employee; Robie Vonderhaar, 58, of Gottenberg, Iowa, a former Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern foreman; Richard W. Browner Jr., 65, of Toms River, N.J., a former assistant line engineer for NJ Transit; James Bonner, 52, of Shalimar, Fla., a former BNSF Railway eningeer, and King Bradley Jr., 48, of Medina, Tenn., a former Illinois Central conductor.
Carlsberg, Cribbs, Vonderhaar, and Browner face multiple counts of wire fraud, each of which carries a penalty of up to 20 years in federal prinson. Bonner and Bradley are charged with making materially false statements to the FBI and Railroad Retirement Board, which is punishable by up to five years in prison.
“The fraud alleged in these indictments is appalling,” Martin J. Dickman, inspector general of the Railroad Retirement Board, said in a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. “My office will continue to pursue individuals who attempt to defraud the USRRB and the actors who may help perpetuate the fraud, whether they be medical professionals, contractors, private employers, or government employees.”
Share this article
