An 11-year veteran officer with the Clearwater Police Department has been arrested on charges that he exaggerated the effects of an injury to collect nearly $12,000 in benefits from the city, according to a news release from police and arrest records.
Scott Penna, 35, was arrested Thursday and taken to the Pinellas County Jail on felony charges of scheme to defraud, pension fraud and grand theft. Bail on the charges was set at $10,500 and Penna left the jail about 40 minutes later, records show.
Penna, who was hired in February 2013 and worked as a patrol officer, injured his arm on Jan. 18, 2023, as he was removing an “uncooperative subject” from the back of his cruiser. An initial report about the injury said he worked the rest of his shift and was not expected to miss work, the news release states.
Penna, who has been on and off light duty since the injury, had two surgeries on his right arm, according to a criminal complaint. His first surgery was May 30, 2023, and a doctor cleared him to return to full duty on July 7, court records state. He underwent a second surgery on Aug. 22 after complaining of pain in his right elbow.
After his second surgery, a doctor noted that Penna would likely be out of work for one to two weeks, followed by light duty for about three months before being reevaluated for full duty. The complaint states that the reevaluation would likely occur around December 2023.
During a postoperative follow-up appointment Sept. 1, Penna told a doctor he had “persistent nerve pain” that prevented him from sleeping, and he said medications were not helping him. The doctor referred Penna to pain management and physical therapy.
At an appointment Nov. 15, Penna said the pain management was having little impact. The doctor noted that Penna “regained full extension with virtually no elbow pain and some numbness at the incision site” and that the ongoing pain was nerve pain.
A study indicated “a reason for the numbness in the small finger” but would not account for the severe pain Penna was reporting. The doctor noted the pain could be coming from carpal tunnel syndrome, “which is unrelated to this workers compensation claim,” the complaint states. The doctor recommended Penna continue pain management.
In December, Penna met with Todd Morrone, manager of Clearwater’s Risk Management Division, and expressed concern about his ability to provide his own transportation to and from work.
According to the complaint, Penna was not allowed to use his Clearwater police cruiser while he was on light duty, and his wife needed his personal vehicle to take their children to and from school and manage other household needs. Penna said he had been borrowing a neighbor’s vehicle to get to and from work but that the vehicle wouldn’t be available much longer.
Morrone told investigators that Penna asked about staying home and receiving workers’ compensation instead of working light duty. Morrone consulted with Clearwater police Maj. Todd Johnson and confirmed that Penna was required to work light duty and that transportation was Penna’s own responsibility.
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Explore all your optionsOn Feb. 5, Penna told Johnson he would no longer have a vehicle to get to and from work and that he thought he could stay home and receive 66% of his salary as a workers’ compensation benefit. Johnson told Penna he was required to work light duty and provide his own transportation, and he offered to modify his schedule to accommodate his wife’s use of the vehicle during the day.
Penna said he didn’t want to work that late, then said he wasn’t sure he could drive because of the medication he was taking, the complaint states.
Johnson told investigators that Penna “had not previously raised the issue of medications preventing him from driving until after learning that he was still required to report to work regardless of his vehicle situation,” according to the complaint.
Marrone raised concerns that Penna might be “defrauding the City by trying to manipulate the system in an effort to stay home and receive workers compensation benefits in lieu of coming to work and performing light duty assignments.” He authorized a private investigations agency to conduct surveillance on Penna.
On Feb. 21, a doctor noted that Penna had been “unable to take medications due to sedation issues.” The doctor advised Penna to take his medications, and he noted that would make Penna unable to drive.
On Feb. 22, Penna applied for a disability pension. He claimed he could no longer do his job because of “continued limitations with his right hand,” the news release states. Then, on March 4, Penna said he could no longer drive to work due to the medications he was taking.
The next day, surveillance of Penna began. Over several days in March and April, the video surveillance did not show “any visible indications of pain or injury limitation,” the complaint states. Throughout the surveillance, Penna could be seen using his right arm to wash his car, carry groceries and even lift weights at the gym.
During the surveillance period, investigators noted Penna “routinely drives his vehicle to and from a variety of locations, sometimes multiple times a day, except for when he attends a doctor’s appointment, which is when he has his wife drive,” the complaint states.
Investigators also noted that Penna “primarily and consistently uses his right hand/arm for everything he does, even if his left hand/arm is free.”
After reviewing the video surveillance, all of the doctors who treated Penna concluded that he had misrepresented his pain, and at least one wrote that Penna appeared capable of full-time, full-duty work as a police officer.
Investigators say Penna “intentionally and unlawfully accepted” $11,976.79 in workers’ compensation payments while staying at home from March 4 to May 16.
“The behaviors exhibited on surveillance video were inconsistent with his alleged disability and limitations,” Clearwater police Chief Eric Gandy said in the news release.
Penna has been placed on administrative leave, where he will remain during an internal investigation.
The city news release said Penna’s actions were “an affront to officers who might truly need a disability pension.”
”It’s reserved for people who really can’t do the job anymore,” Gandy said in the news release. “The officers and taxpayers pay into the system to ensure our first responders are protected and shouldn’t have to worry about someone trying to dupe the system.”
