Prosecutors said Faatiga submitted false paperwork claiming an on-duty elbow injury left him unable to work. He collected tens of thousands of dollars in workers’ compensation benefits before surveillance footage allegedly caught him powering through “intense gym workouts<\/a>,” according to KTVU<\/a>.<\/p>\n Faatiga worked as a San Mateo County deputy sheriff from 2022 to 2025.<\/p>\n Jorden Faatiga, a 35-year-old former San Mateo County deputy sheriff, pleaded no contest to workers’ compensation fraud after authorities said he pocketed $62,000 in disability benefits while secretly crushing workouts at the gym. Getty Images\/iStockphoto<\/p>\n The 35-year-old former deputy claimed $62,000 in benefits X\/@henrykleeKT<\/p>\n His pay also ballooned during his time with the department. After earning about $92,000 in 2022, Faatiga’s annual compensation climbed to more than $293,000 within three years, according to GovSalaries<\/a>. Workers’ compensation benefits are not included in standard public salary databases.<\/p>\n The current District Attorney of San Mateo County, Stephen M. Wagstaffe SMCGOV<\/p>\n This comes after a Los Angeles police officer was also charged with fraud for working out while collecting disability benefits in February.<\/p>\n Christopher Brandon Carnahan, an 18-year LAPD veteran, was charged with felony insurance fraud after being spotted skydiving and at a fitness center while claiming to have hurt his elbow.<\/p>\n “This case is about honest and accountability. Claiming to be temporarily totally disabled and collecting disability benefits intended for injured workers while engaging in physically demanding activities like skydiving is a crime,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in a statement at the time<\/a>.<\/p>\n Two married Tustin police officers were also charged over false workers’ compensation claims in 2023.<\/p>\n LAPD officer Christopher Brandon Carnahan was charged on two felony counts of insurance fraud<\/p>\n The couple claimed they both suffered chronic back pain and collected over $180,000 but were caught mountain biking and boating during a vacation trip.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A former Bay Area sheriff’s deputy flexed a little too hard. Jorden Faatiga, a 35-year-old former San Mateo…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":420651,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,168028,27262,112945,40418,168027,397,65505,16586],"class_list":["post-420650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-compensation-benefits","tag-deputy-sheriff","tag-disability-benefits","tag-insurance-fraud","tag-jorden-faatiga","tag-san-mateo-county","tag-workers-compensation-fraud","tag-workers-compensation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=420650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420650\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/420651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=420650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=420650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=420650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Jorden](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/california_post_772\/954b231dedf352f655eac93afe813c36.jpeg\"\/)
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