Pennsylvania trucking company president charged with workers’ comp fraud

The president of Horst & Sons Trucking Inc. has been charged with workers’ comp fraud. Officials allege that the Pennsylvania trucking company failed to provide workers’ compensation insurance over a 250-day period, but accepted government funds to maintain the policy.

The trucking company, operating under a contract with the United States Postal Service, received government funds totaling $54,067.85 specifically for workers’ compensation coverage related to six contracts, but diverted those funds for other use, according to a report in the Record Herald.

Joann Wildeson, president and part owner of the company, diverted the funds to other uses, according to officials with the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General. When questioned about the USPS contracts and government funding, Wildeson told officials, “the business had difficulty meeting expenses, and had to make hard choices regarding expenditures,” an affidavit reads.