After a woman’s car rear-ended a trash trailer on the side of the road in Houston, an ambulance arrived on the scene to find Ronald J. Dawson sprawled nearby in the grass. He claimed that the trailer had knocked him some 20 feet away when the woman’s car rear-ended it.
According to Texas Mutual Insurance Co., Dawson had been employed with On Our Own Services Inc. in Houston picking up trash bags on the side of the road. He filed for workers’ compensation benefits for an alleged injured knee, and Texas Mutual began paying on the claim.
Eight months later, On Our Own Services owner Shawn Quigley complained to a Texas Mutual claim adjuster that Dawson was trying to “drag out the claim” to get more money from a pending third-party lawsuit. The adjuster referred the case to the special investigation department.
Eileen Cook, a Texas Mutual fraud investigator, contacted Quigley and discovered that Dawson’s co-worker had reported the incident to the company’s safety director, who had taken photos of the accident scene. The photos clearly showed that the car pushed the trailer straight into the back of the van that was towing it, not to the side. Therefore, the trailer could not have struck Dawson as he had claimed.
Cook continued her investigation and obtained a statement from Dawson’s co-worker, the driver of the van, stating that the trailer did not touch Dawson. According to the co-worker, Dawson walked to a grassy area, smoked a cigarette, and laid down to wait for the ambulance. When the ambulance arrived, Dawson told the co-worker that the next time they met, he would be driving a Cadillac.
Dawson later sued the woman for the alleged injury to his knee.
Cook discovered that Dawson’s knee injury was inconsistent with damage resulting from a collision. In fact, the medical x-rays showed Dawson’s knee to be full of shotgun pellets. Further investigation revealed that Dawson, a two-time convicted felon, had received regular treatment for the shotgun pellets in his knee during his first prison sentence.
Based on Cook’s investigation, a Travis County Grand Jury indicted Dawson. Assistant District Attorney Donna Crosby prosecuted the case and reached a plea-bargain agreement with Dawson.
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