Efrain Alatorre Camarena has been charged in Skagit County Superior Court with one count of first-degree theft.

A warrant for Alatorre’s arrest remains active. Judge Heather Shand issued the warrant after he failed to appear at his arraignment last week.

Alatorre, 58, is accused of illegally taking workers’ compensation wage replacement payments while falsely claiming he was too injured to work due to an on-the-job accident with a runaway cow.

A Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) investigation found Alatorre actually had been working at another dairy for at least three-and-a-half years without telling the department.

Investigators determined he earned over $172,000 working on the farm while collecting more than $122,000 in L&I payments at the same time, between January 2020 and August 2023, according to charging papers.

The Washington State Attorney General’s Office is prosecuting the case based on L&I’s investigation. L&I oversees the state workers’ compensation insurance system, which helps injured workers heal and return to work.

“When injured workers are dishonest with us about whether they can work, or if they are secretly working, they’re taking money away from real injured workers who need it,” said Celeste Monahan, L&I’s assistant director of Fraud Prevention and Labor Standards.

“We care about helping injured workers, so we take fraud seriously. If you’re stealing from the system, we will catch you and make sure you face the consequences.”

Injured chasing runaway cow

Alatorre hurt his back and neck when he fell chasing a runaway cow at a Skagit County dairy in the summer of 2006.

A doctor determined he could not work because of his on-the-job injuries. Alatorre also regularly signed official documents stating he was not working because of the injuries, one of the requirements to receive payments to replace part of his lost wages.

He took the L&I payments directly after his injury for five-and-a-half years, and then again later, starting in early 2020, after he had surgery related to his original injury.

L&I records check leads to investigation

In 2023, L&I investigators conducting a routine comparison of L&I and state Employment Security Department (ESD) data discovered Alatorre was working despite his statements to L&I.

The ESD records and pay stubs from a Skagit County dairy revealed Alatorre had been working at the farm while he was receiving wage-replacement payments from 2020 through September 2023, charging papers said.