A former self-storage manager has been charged with fraudulently collecting nearly $129,000 in workers’ compensation while employed at Brentwood Self Storage in Chesapeake, Va. Winston Lee Wise, 72, made his initial appearance on Sept. 1 in the U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Va. He faces nine felony charges related to accepting the money from February 2003 to May 2015, according to the source.

Wise was employed at the storage facility at 1437 George Washington Highway N. from February 2003 to June 2004 as a contractor, and then as a manager between June 2004 and June 2015. During that time, he earned about $152,000. To conceal the wages, Wise’s checks were addressed to an unidentified woman or a business named “Pamela’s Hauling and Cutting,” according to the indictment.

Wise qualified for total disability after claiming he suffered an unspecified traumatic injury while working in 1987. He began receiving about $685 a week in disability benefits in April 1995. While on disability, Wise was required to report any employment earnings, which he failed to do, the indictment alleges.

If Wise had reported the earnings, the disability benefits would’ve been re-calculated. Wise would’ve collected $261,000 in benefits between 2003 and 2015, instead of the $390,000 he received.

Opened in 1981, Brentwood Self Storage is owned by Brentwood Development Inc., a family-owned corporation.

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