Caseworker Named In Plot To Steal Funds Meant For Disabled Payments Authorized For Services Never Rendered, According To Federal Indictment

A former state worker is under indictment for his role in an alleged conspiracy to steal $70,400 of taxpayer money intended to help disabled adults find work.

The scheme, according to federal charging documents, involved Gary Haworth, a Department of Vocational Rehabilitation caseworker, funneling clients to the Spokane-based company Granger and Associates.

Haworth authorized payments to the company for services that “would not or could not have been performed,” according the charges.

The 10-year employee based in DVR’s Tri-Cities office sent all the clients on his caseload to Granger and Associates, without giving the disabled people a choice.

The now-defunct company, co-owned by Ava Anderson Granger and Bruce K. Greene, received more than $70,000 in government funds to help 26 disabled adults find work, but submitted false documentation of interviews and services that were not performed, the documents allege.

The charges were filed in U.S. District Court in Spokane because about 80 percent of the money came from the U.S. Department of Education.

A grand jury decided in July that evidence collected by state fraud investigators merited a 27-count indictment against Haworth, Granger and Greene. A trial is scheduled for March 12, 2001.

Haworth’s attorney, Carl Oreskovich, denied the charges. Granger did provide the services it was paid for, and Haworth was simply doing his job by approving them, Oreskovich said.

The only relationship between Haworth and the Granger co-owners was professional, he said.

“There are lots of things that are amiss about the indictment, but we’ll save those arguments for the courtroom,” he said.

Haworth was fired Dec. 7, Oreskovich said. Greene’s attorney declined to comment. Granger’s lawyer did not respond to interview requests.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie Lister declined to discuss the charges.

Don Kay, DVR’s chief field services administrator based in Olympia, said the department has severed ties with Granger and Associates.

The allegations first surfaced in a routine audit of DVR cases, said Kay. The cases were referred to Department of Social and Health Services fraud investigators and the Washington State Patrol, which investigates allegations of wrongdoing by state employees.

Kay declined to discuss the incident further, citing the pending trial. Fraud investigators did likewise.

Granger and Associates had been doing business with DVR since 1993, getting paid $45 an hour to evaluate the work skills of disabled adults, then place them into jobs.

They were headquartered next door to the DSHS Spokane offices on South Arthur, but also had a satellite office in Pasco.

According to the federal indictment, Haworth sent 26 people to Granger and Associates between October 1995 and July 1997. In one case, Granger billed $7,025 for a single client.

The indictment accuses Haworth of sending clients to the company “with the greatest opportunity to bill the state of Washington for the maximum amount of services.” Granger and Associates routinely billed for “the maximum allowable amount,” and Haworth approved the invoices, the indictment says.

The indictment comes as DVR is cutting services to disabled adults because of a statewide budget crunch. The department is not taking new clients until next July, and may cut services to some current clients.

Oreskovich said Haworth is disabled himself, working despite his cerebral palsy.

“He had a real unique interest in helping people, based on being disabled himself,” Oreskovich said. “The guy is devastated that he is charged in this indictment.”