Oswego County Resident Sentenced for Insurance Fraud After Concealing Work While Collecting Workers’ Compensation Benefits

NEW YORK – New York State Workers’ Compensation Fraud Inspector General Lucy Lang today announced the sentencing of an Oswego County man for fraudulently obtaining workers’ compensation benefits while concealing his return to work.

Christopher Cronk, 58, of Central Square, NY, was sentenced on April 20, 2026, in Onondaga County Court before the Hon. Gordon Cuffy to five years of probation following his previously entered plea to Insurance Fraud in the Third Degree (NY Penal Law § 176.20), a Class D felony. As a condition of his sentence, Cronk was also ordered to pay full restitution in the amount of $10,494 to the New York State Insurance Fund. Cronk’s arrest and prosecution resulted from an investigation by the Office of the New York State Workers’ Compensation Fraud Inspector General (WCFIG), which found that he improperly collected wage replacement benefits for at least eighteen months while working and earning income.

“Workers’ compensation benefits exist to support injured workers while they recover – not to subsidize undisclosed employment,” said New York State Inspector General Lucy Lang. “Misrepresenting work activity undermines a system that depends on honesty and accountability and is a crime.”

Cronk was injured in March 2021 while employed by Cutting Edge Painting in Webster, NY, and began receiving wage replacement benefits through the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board. By March 2022, surveillance footage, witness statements, and bank records obtained by the Inspector General confirmed that he had resumed paid painting work at private properties and businesses.  Despite this, Cronk repeatedly certified, through August of 2022, that he had not resumed any paid work since his injury.   As a result, he collected over $10,000 in benefits from to which he was not entitled.

The Inspector General thanked her team for their work on this investigation, including Deputy Chief Investigator Joel Mercer, Investigator Amy McMullen, Senior Investigative Counsel Jill Florkowski, Deputy Inspector General Jeffrey Hagen, Chief Investigator Martin Stanford, and Bryan Richmond, Attorney-in-Charge for Workers’ Compensation Fraud. Inspector General Lang also offered her thanks to the New York State Insurance Fund for its cooperation in the investigation, the New York State Police for their assistance with the arrest, and the Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office for their partnership in prosecuting this matter.

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