CHP officer said his pain warranted retirement. Then investigators saw how he spent his free time
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- A California Highway Patrol officer told his physician he couldn’t stand or sit without “significant pain,” authorities say. But he was seen cutting down trees, stacking firewood and operating heavy machinery.
- Jordan Roy Lester was sentenced to 270 days in a county jail for felony insurance fraud.
- He also was ordered to pay $232,829 in restitution to the CHP and $127,791 to the state compensation insurance fund.
He told his physician he couldn’t stand or sit without “significant pain,” authorities say.
Household chores were anything but routine.
California Highway Patrol Officer Jordan Roy Lester claimed a medical retirement was the only recourse because of a debilitating injury, according to authorities. Then the department’s internal affairs investigators observed Lester on property he’d newly purchased cutting down trees, stacking firewood and operating heavy machinery.
Fast-forward two years and the 17-year veteran pleaded guilty in Sacramento County court on Wednesday to felony insurance fraud and was sentenced to 270 days in a county jail.
Lester, 45, is also on two years’ formal probation and has been ordered to pay $232,829 in restitution to the CHP and $127,791 to the state compensation insurance fund.
A group of California homeowners filed suit Wednesday against AAA and USAA, alleging that the insurers left them systematically underinsured and unable to rebuild after the Jan. 7 firestorms in Los Angeles County destroyed their homes.
He’ll also lose his service and pension credit for the years in which fraud was committed.
“We take workers’ compensation fraud very seriously as it has an immediate and lasting financial impact on employers and delays medical care and financial assistance to employees legitimately injured at work,” Sacramento County Dist. Atty. Thien Ho said in a statement.
Ho added: “To have a peace officer commit this fraud is not only a violation of their duty to serve and protect with integrity, but it is also a violation of public trust.”
Lester was arrested in Quincy, in the Plumas National Forest of Northern California, in August 2024 after a multiyear investigation by the CHP’s Workers’ Compensation Fraud Investigation Unit. Lester filed a workers’ compensation claim in July 2021, though his superiors said the injury was “not significant,” according to the Sacramento County District Attorney’s office. He was not taken off duty.
Lester had been assigned to the CHP’s Central Division but briefly was moved to Quincy, according to the CHP office there. The home he purchased was located in Quincy.
On his days off he worked the property, according to the D.A.’s office, and eventually reached out to a former officer about obtaining medical retirement, according to authorities.
Martha Gutierrez DeRomero and her boyfriend Alfredo Ledezma were charged Friday with a felony count of insurance fraud and a misdemeanor count of filing a false police report, according to court records.
If he’d succeeded in getting medical retirement, he would have received 85% of his salary for life, tax-free, the D.A.’s office said.
As a CHP officer, Lester earned more than $260,000 in pay and benefits in 2021, according to the public pay database Transparent California.
In January 2022, Lester visited a doctor to have his claim substantiated, authorities said. He immediately was taken off his normal shift. His fortunes unraveled not long after when investigators witnessed him on his property engaging in “heavy physical activity,” according to the D.A.’s office.
An independent medical examiner tested Lester in February 2024 and said that not only could Lester “perform all work duties,” but the CHP veteran also “exaggerated his complaints,” according to the D.A.’s office.
He was arrested six months later.
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