Huntington Park resident Rosa Maria Barajas, the wife of injured worker Jesus Barajas, was arrested for allegedly continuing to cash workers’ compensation structured settlement benefits after her injured husband died. She was receiving approximately $18,000 per month, each month after his death in May 2010.

Jesus Barajas suffered an industrial accident in October of 1997 when he fell from a scaffold while working for Aramark Uniform Services. As a result of his accident and serious injuries, Jesus was comatose and declared legally brain dead. Due to his condition, Rosa was appointed his legal guardian in April of 1998 by the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board and placed in charge of all his financial dealings and pending workers’ compensation suit.

New York Life contacted the California Department of Insurance in January of 2013 to report that Barajas was continuing to collect on her deceased husband’s workers’ compensation structured settlement. Barajas had been receiving monthly payments of over $18,000 that would continue only while Jesus Barajas was alive according to the September 2000 Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board Order. As part of the agreement Rosa Barajas was directed to notify New York Life in the event of the demise of her husband, but according to the investigators she failed to do so when Jesus Barajas died in May of 2010.

Bail has been set at $505,341. If convicted, Barajas faces up to five years in state prison and a fine in excess of $500,000.