A Simi Valley man was sentenced recently on one felony count of workers' compensation fraud.

Alejandro Lopez, 26, was sentenced Oct. 24 to 180 days in jail, placed on three years formal probation and ordered to pay $35,263 in restitution after he plead no contest to the felony charge.

Lopez was employed by T.R. Wurster Construction as a carpenter at a project in Simi Valley on July 8, 2003. According to the

Ventura County district attorney's office, one day after work Lopez and several fellow employees played a game of soccer. During the game, Lopez broke his leg.

While at the hospital, the carpenter said that he broke his leg at work when he fell from scaffolding. Lopez continued to lie at his doctors' appointments about the cause of the injury.

As a result, Lopez received benefits from his employer's workers'

compensation insurance policy. In addition to receiving medical treatment and rehabilitation, he collected biweekly disability checks for more than a year after his injury.

After the investigation revealed that Lopez had lied by claiming his injury occurred at work, felony charges were filed and a warrant was issued for his arrest. Lopez was arrested on the warrant in Oklahoma and was extradited to California.