Santa Ana officer charged with worker’s compensation fraud

A Santa Ana police officer is facing charges for worker’s compensation insurance fraud after the Orange County District Attorney’s Office accused him of continuing to accept his full pay without working despite being physically able to return to his job.

Jonathon Ridge, 29, is facing four felony counts, including for making fraudulent insurance benefit claims and a fraudulent statement to obtain compensation, court records show.

Ridge is on administrative leave, according to the Santa Ana Police Department.

The city’s risk-management department referred the case to the Santa Ana Police Department in May 2019, which turned it over to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, police said.

“SAPD is cooperating with the OCDA’s office,” the department said in a statement. “SAPD’s Internal Affairs Division is conducting an internal affairs investigation into the alleged misconduct, and as with all personnel-related matters, SAPD cannot comment on ongoing internal affairs investigations.”

On Oct. 5, 2017, Ridge was injured in a collision on duty while pursuing a suspect driving a stolen vehicle, according to a DA’s Office statement. He immediately went on disability leave, prosecutors said, and later had surgery on his left wrist.

In November 2018, a doctor cleared Ridge to return to work with restrictions, but because those restrictions were too severe for the city to accommodate, he continued to receive his entire pay without working, according to the statement.

When Ridge still had not reported an improvement despite surgery, 18 months after the on-duty collision, the city authorized surveillance of the officer.

According to prosecutors, Ridge was found to be “engaging in activities well beyond what the doctor had imposed.”

Along with attending college classes nearly full time, Ridge was also seen packing up his car and driving to Utah, going to the beach and driving his motorcycle, the DA’s Office statement says.

“Workers’ compensation fraud costs honest, hardworking businesses and government entities more than $30 billion a year,” District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement. “We cannot allow those who commit worker’s compensation fraud to go unpunished.”

If convicted, Ridge faces up to eight years in state prison.