The San Bernardino County District Attorney’s office reported that a 68-year-old Apple Valley man who claimed he fell and injured his knee on his way to jury duty before filing for workers’ compensation has been charged with fraud. According to DA officials, Scott Masters reported for jury duty at the Barstow courthouse in October 2010. While walking from his car to the jury room, he claimed he took a shortcut through a planter and fell, hurting his left knee.

Authorities said Masters filed a workers’ compensation claim through the San Bernardino County Superior Court, seeking benefits for a “work-related” injury as a prospective juror. The case was referred to the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Workers’ Compensation Fraud Prosecution Unit in October 2012, DA officials said. According to District Attorney Senior Investigator Paul DeJong, who is assigned to the case, Masters retained an attorney to assist with the filing of the claim, and he received medical care.

“Mr. Masters failed to report prior medical conditions with his left knee and denied prior injury during his deposition and medical care,” DeJong said in a DA news release. Court complaints state Masters “lied … when he stated that the only body part diagnosed with arthritis in the past was the right knee” and “stated that he never had any type of knee pain prior to injury at the court.”

As a result of the failure to report a preexisting injury, Masters was charged with nine felony counts. Court complaints show Masters has been charged with four counts of felony Worker’s Compensation Insurance Fraud, four counts of perjury under oath and one count of concealment or failure to disclose facts. Masters was arrested Sept. 4 by DA investigators and booked into the High Desert Detention Center in Adelanto. He was released on bail the next day and does not yet have a court date scheduled, according to county jail records.