Woman Must Repay Stolen Disability Funds

A Texas woman must pay $48,000 to the state for collecting workers’ compensation benefits for her dead father, the Department of Labor and Industries said Friday.

Elizabeth Anne Rangel also must serve up to 10 years’ probation after pleading guilty to theft and forgery.

State officials learned last year that Rangel, 66, had collected workers’ compensation benefits for her father for 11 years after his death in July 1984. The father, Albert Jackson, was awarded a disability pension for a work-related injury sustained in 1941; Rangel forged power-of-attorney documents at the time of his death to continue to receive his pension.

The fraud was discovered when the state compared Social Security numbers of dead people to those of workers’ compensation recipients.

Rangel, who had moved to Texas, was arrested in late March and returned to Washington. She pleaded guilty in Thurston County Superior Court.