First of all, how does a wrist injury make one wheelchair bound? Secondly, this slug received more than $300,000 of benefits, why is he only repaying $45,000, Anyway, job well done county prosecutor, keep up the good work, we should be doing more of this, phony disability claims are out of control.

G D
You put so eloquently exactly what I was thinking!!!!

Living a lie is more difficult than you think! He apparently got too comfortable with his "disabled" status. I also applaud the prosecutor in this case. Well done!

This crap goes on all the time and is fueled by these thieving lawyers-ambulance chasers. I was at a lawyers office once and she was giving her clients neck braces to wear to make it look good. There the ones needing the next investigation. And people like him that will get a job just long enough to claim workmans comp. DISCRACEFULL.

IF this was Harford County he would have never been granted a full disability retirement. You can have County Doctors put into writing you are injured and it is a on the duty injury and get turned down for full disability. Maybe Baltimore County should call Risk Management from Harford County and find out how to screw over their employees to.

It's a shame everyine believes what they read on this "Enquirer" news blog. Noone knows the real story unless they lived this mans life, once again the media blows someone's life out of porportion and a bunch of low life people with nothing better to do comment on it as if they have a clue. I would hate to see what the video's would show in their lives.

I went to the ground with a cardiac arrest in the line of duty. Then they forced me to retire even though I fully recovered and wanted to work. On top of that they tried to steal my pension.

There are abuses of the system, but at this stage of the game the county is far ahead and the feds will have their say.

Even if the man was restricted to a wheelchair, he could still work in some capacity - as a dispatcher, in an office, etc. I have a couple friends, including one co-worker, who are paralyzed from the waist down and they both hold full-time positions.

I was hit by a car driving a work provided moped, and when I stopped using a walker and upgraded to a cane the insurance Dr said I could go back to my old job. 12 hours a day six days a week on my feet bending lifting and so on. I understand the system sucks at times, but its crap like this that makes it harder for people that really have issues. I felt like I did wrong, I was being followed when I was trying to teach myself how to walk again.

Tony it is the old saying that honesty counts. Look at the billions wasted in Medicaid and Medicare fraud at he expense of the good people who need it.

I friend of mine just went through that and not one state or federal agency would lift a finger to investigate when he already did all the leg work.

Even all of the politicians turned their backs on him.

So here's to you Mister Robinson
Your defen$e team loves you more than you will know
Oh Oh Oh
And here's to you Mister Robinson
You pushed your luck and now you gotta' go
Oh Oh Oh

Buzz, You may have had to retire against your wishes, but now your the voice of reason for a whole lot of folks in Baltimore County. Not to mention how much you seem to know about County politics. I bet their sorry they made you retire!

Unfortunately they article didnt include the videos of the man in a wheel chair with his leg and foot so swollen that it burst and blood was everywhere and it had to be wrapped in a trash bag because the bandanges werent even enough. The wrist injury led to RSD (http://arthritis.about.com/od/rsd/a/rsd.htm) which is why it affected his leg, back etc. After months of physical therapy and the urging of the Dr to use it or lose it, he tried to use it on many occassions. he had good days, smetimes followed by really bad nights because he would overdo it, and he had bad days. Of course this article leaves that out too.
Unfortunatey the wonderful county he worked for don't want to see that part. They'd rather just focus on the part where he was improving and being a man and trying his damndest to work and improve his quality of life. I guess when your hurt they expect you to just stay hurt or die, never get better by the treatments provided (last I checked thats what medical treatments were for).

Yet again, this article proves that the media is one sided and never reports the full story. Mr. Sears, I think you should tell the population about the 34 doctors including, National Inst of Health, Johns Hopkins, GBMC, Mercy, Franklin Square including some of the most trusted experts in the field of nuerology that made the diagnosis of Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy for this man. A dibilitating desease that can travel thruout the nervous system with 24/7 pain that feels like daggers thru out your body and the hair falls out & the skin rips open due to swelling and fybromyalgia. I also think you should tell them about the horrible days & nights spent in pain clinics and ER rooms to try to find some relief for over 5 years straight and then tell them about all the pain killers and their side effects on your body and suicidal depressive thoughts that make you want to end your life because you can't stop the pain and the case workers at Baltimore County that do not listen to your pleas for help and allow the very lethal opiate medications that the doctors prescribe to run out with out concern for your body that is now going thru the nightmare of withdrawal symptoms and no ONE cares!!!!

And then PLEASE tell them about the Baltimore County sytem that requires that you work as a laborer regardless of the number of Dr.'s reports or prescription drugs you are on and if you cannot, then they fire you!!! Regardless that you have over 17 years on the job as a loyal employee. AND most importantly that Baltimore County offers NO rehab OR job re-training, but they will spend thousands of dollars on investigators to follow you around and video you, after your Dr.'s have told you that if you do not try to rehab yourself that you will lose your limbs to atrophy if you do not use them.
This man had nothing to hide. He was fighting for his life and a way back to work without any help from anywhere!!! At 43 years old do you think he wanted to trade his V-10 Ford Pickup in for a MINI-van? Do you think he wanted to lose his CDL? Do you think he wanted to stop hunting & fishing with his Dad & kids??? Do you think he did not want to share his marital love with his wife for 4 years because he COULD NOT??? Who the hell do you people think you are passing such quick judgements on one sided articles you read in the paper!!!! Shame ON YOU!!!

And the next time your girlfriend with the migraines,. or your too fat friend, or the bi-polar jerk next door tells you they got their social security check, you just outta re-think the way this whole system works!!!
AND ONE MORE THING-- The plea was an "Alford Plea" that means "you realize the prosecution has enough evidence to convict you, BUT you maintain your innocence" NOW add this to your story to make it right!!

KZK
Ever thought of he was asking for help?? Apparently you grew up with the man so you should know. Or let me guess your another jerk expressing your opinion without knowing the whole story, and yet you know him personally. Shame on you!

What the judge did to this man is just plain wrong! The judge should be ashamed of himself. Only making him pay back $49K - dude should have to pay back $300K!

JRH you seem to know a lot about this fellow....???? More then just a hunch or some reading...

He's my Dad!

Both sides of any story increase the accuracy of what really took place.

this is really sad. all of you think you know so much and you sit in judgement as if you were entitled. you dont know this man.i do ,and i have for 25 yrs+ . there is no one of you persons sitting in judgement that can actually know the truth.i can guarantee that none of you would choose to go thru what he has . ive seen the pain and torture he has been thru for yrs now 1st hand. this is the last guy who would ever give up his life for a wheelchair. he has gone to hell and back, and ALL of the tests proven by ALL of the doctors were REAL and documented. thats the side you have no knowledge of and therefore no right to judge.he was PRESCRIBED these meds and treatments by REALdoctors, including thos physicians working for BALTIOMRE CO> and many SPECIALISTS who diagnosed his illness .this is a man who could no longer build or repair things, or fish do any of the things he enjoyed all of his life ,for yrs.

' Fred ' obviously knows something about baltimore co politics, i know many who do and have worked there over the yrs, there are many issues likle this. there was no 'game' here, just a few of the best yrs of Jims life taken away .i watched him fight his way back and force himself to do things [ likle stand alone , and walk ], the things most of you+I take for granted. most need to come down off on your high horse and shut up and listen to the truth instead of some so called reporters spin on this blog

oh yeah, KZK you are probably one of those who claims to be a ''good Christian''[;having your daughter pray for him[ you probably have withdrawn those prayers as ''good christians'' do. jim is a great guy ,a better man and kinder and more generous and honest than you could ever understand.you dont know him. i grew up in that same nbhd too ,and . im ashamed of your ''HOLIER THAN THOU'' POSITION . i hope your daughter doesn't read this . she'll probably understand[if shes allowed to read both sides] ..[and you probably wouln't allow that] instead making false judgement against Jim.

white beardd has a good message. think before you speak , especially without knowing what you are talking about, isn't that what all of us tried to teach our kids??

oh yeah, KZK ther are a lot of people who came out of that nbhd that you SHOUD be asamed of. Jim is NOT one of them

oh another issue. it took aLOOOOONG time for baltimore county to even get the chair, he used used and borrowed wheelcairs w/ NO POWER for a long time .

most of you should you try getting around@ all w/ one side of your body spazzing w/ severe pain and not functioning nor responding w/ RSV ; then try doing it in a real[ man-powered] wheelchair][w/ no power but your own and one side of your body doesnt work!.] then fall out of bed a few, no many times when trying to get up into a chair ,and then collapse w/ your cane as the only thing that you thought would hold you up! we're all getting older , shame on you for condemning a young man who aged far before his time. oh yeah , then realize you'll likley bleed to death or hemmorage if you eat greens because the blood thinners that prevent coagulatoin will kill you if you eat the ''wrang thing'' grow up people and realize this is and was REAL. theres no recreational drinking nor ant freedom w/ food, because it will either make you sick or kill you. . walk a mile in his shoes. i dare you

oh yes, one morething, i would NEVER hire a lawyer named TIM. i hevaent needed one, but thats not a strong, decisive name .

and to nick macri, this is not ''crap' and the lawyers are not ''ambulance chasers''', obviously you know the drill and likley have ''worked it' @ some point!! this is the real deal that devastated a mans life[+ his entire family]dont be so quick to assume . this could have been any of us.

"There, but for the Grace of God, go I"
"Judge not, lest ye be judged"
I live this mans' pain, everyday! Neurologic dissorders and a bad back retired me at 64. I'd give an arm and a leg to still be working, but the disease doesn't go away. Not with P/T, meds, nor manipulations by Chiropractors.This man shouldn't be prosecuted, he should be supported, for the rest of his life!!!

Knowing Mr. Robinson and seeing him during his worst time ... it truly is ashame that reading a story, without truly knowing the whole story, any one of you can cast stones. It astonishes me how many people I see abusing disability services and could get their a&*es to work .. I get it and it frustrates me too. The fact is he was disable for a long time. He was injured on the job. And he needed to be in a wheelchair for years. The media failed to articulate the insurmountable physicians that certify his illness to be true. Yes, he has gotten better only after having a will to live and try to regain his quality of life (around the time of this surveilance) and plea agreement only to save face for his wife and children because a trial could be risky.

Next time you want to pass judgement - take a long look in the mirror and over your shoulder at your family, friends and neighbors. This is a sad misrepresentation of Mr. Robinson. And I sincerely hope the nightmare ends so he can return to enjoying life again as his health continues to improve.

Working in the work comp industry, we see cases like this on a regular basis. If the man was truly wheelchair bound as he claimed, it would have been impossible for him to be cutting tree limbs. If his health was improving, good for him. But then he should have asked for help in finding some other kind of job like a sedentary position that he is obvioulsy capable of. I'm not casting stones or looking down on him because I see people who are truly hurt at work every day. However if you abuse the system I do believe that there should be consequences.

Looks like this article is winding-up ike all the others, with personal attacks on the responders, name calling, and all sort of irrelevant, meaningless junk that escapes the real business at hand. And all because some poor fella was caught trimming a tree with an appliance a six-year-old could operate. Score-Big Brother=1, Poor Disabled Man=0. The system realy works, don't it? "O Maryland, My Maryland......"

Im curious if this man was in such pain and misery and his claim that he truely was disabled. Why did he plead guilt? If he was so disabled why didnt he try to fight?

Jim is a good man. I did see him at his worst times. He will take what is coming to him and move on. Baltimore County does suck!!! They forced me to retire after 30 years of dedicated service. RB

They are always good people, before they get caught stealing?