A veteran of the U.S. Navy will serve two years in federal prison for cheating the government out of more than $350,000 in worker’s compensation and unemployment benefits.
Leray Shurn was sentenced Monday on fraud charges for a five-year scheme in which he claimed back and knee injuries kept him from working as a civilian Navy employee while at the same time he ran a landscaping business.
Shurn, 59, was convicted in January on 16 counts of fraud.
In his trial, jurors watched video of Shurn personally landscaping for customers while collecting worker’s comp and unemployment benefits.
The defendant named the company “Leray’s Landscaping” and handed out business cards without revealing the business to the Navy or the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Judge Thomas J. Whelan ordered Shurn to pay $357.977 in restitution and a $5,000 fine on top of his prison sentence.
