Omid Mohammadi Dashti, 41, has been charged with one count of first-degree theft. He’s accused of stealing more than $28,000 in workers’ compensation payments from March through November 2023 from the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (L&I).

Dashti failed to appear twice at his arraignment to enter a plea in King County Superior Court, prompting the court to enter a warrant for his arrest.

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According to charging papers, Dashti regularly told L&I he couldn’t work due to an on-the-job back injury. That was among the key requirements allowing him to receive payments to replace his lost wages.

However, L&I undercover investigators recorded Dashti doing physically demanding weight-training exercises, sometimes lifting up to 155 pounds as in this November 2023 video taken at a fitness center in Renton.

L&I was alerted to the case by someone who was familiar with Dashti’s injury claim and saw him exercising at the gym.

“Stopping workers’ compensation fraud means more money for the injured workers who really need it,” said Celeste Monahan, assistant director of L&I’s Fraud Prevention and Labor Standards division. “We can’t be everywhere, so we truly appreciate tips from the public about cases of suspected fraud.”

The Washington State Attorney General’s Office is prosecuting the case based on L&I’s investigation.

Frequents gym within month of injury

Dashti was a delivery driver for a bottling plant when he injured his lower back lifting and moving beverages in December 2022.

After filing an L&I claim and his medical provider determining that his injury prevented him from returning to his delivery job, Dashti began receiving payments in January 2023 to replace part of his wages.

L&I’s investigation found that less than a month after his injury, Dashti began regularly visiting the fitness center he belonged to, just as he had before the injury, according to the Renton gym’s attendance records.

Violating medical restrictions

Undercover investigators filmed Dashti on two days in late 2023 performing a strenuous weight-training routine using weight machines, and loading heavy discs onto a weight bar as shown in this video. 

His movements and use of weights of up to 155 pounds “seemingly constituted severe violations” of his medical restrictions, which prohibited him from bending, twisting and lifting more than 5 pounds, charging papers said.

Injured workers must follow their medical restrictions and treatment orders as one of the requirements to keep receiving wage-replacement payments.

In an interview with investigators in December 2023, Dashti watched the surveillance video. He denied that his exercises violated his medical restrictions or harmed his body, charging papers said. 

But after Dashti’s attending medical provider watched the footage of him pumping iron, she determined that Dashti could have returned to work much sooner.

“It is obvious to me after seeing the video that Omid has been telling me false information and can clearly lift more than his job of injury requires,” the provider wrote.

Report workers’ comp fraud

If you see or suspect someone is cheating the workers’ comp system, contact L&I's Fraud division (Lni.wa.gov/Fraud) or call 1-888-811-5974.