On Februaru 9th 2016 John Smiley and his wife Cynthia Biasi-Smiley were sentenced to 240 days in county jail, five years of formal probation, and ordered to pay $38,206.70 in restitution to the State Compensation Insurance Fund (SCIF).

John Smiley  a former correctional officer with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and his wife, were convicted on multiple insurance fraud felony charges.  The charges are a result of an “on-duty” injury the John claims he suffered when his was shot and paralyzed in San Francisco. The claim would have made him eligible for compensation from SCIF and CalPers.

In April of 2008, the Smiley’s were out at a swinger’s club in San Francisco.  The couple had sexual encounters with partners other than themselves.  An argument followed the event when a woman accused John Smiley of not using contraceptives during the act.  When the Smiley’s left the club they were followed to their car where John was shot in the back and left a paraplegic.

In recorded statements to the SFPD the Smiley’s stated that they had never seen the individuals before that evening and did not recognize them.  There were never any arrests made in connection with the shooting.

About 11 months later, John filed a workers compensation claim and Cynthia filed a lien for work comp benefits based on the fact she had to care for her husband.  John also filed for an Industrial Disability Retirement with CalPers. In their claims, John and Cynthia testified under oath that they could not recall the club they were leaving when the shooting occurred and could think of no reason that someone would want to kill John. They testified that they had no contact with anyone in the club, or even looked at another female even though after the shooting they told SFPD that John had sex with the unknown female.

In an effort to make the injury related to work to collect comp benefits John claimed that he recognized the shooter as a parolee that he had once transported.  However this conflicts with the statement given to SFPD after the shooting where John says that he did not recognize the shooter and that the shooting had nothing to do with his scope of work.

Had their fraud been successful, John would have received $3,002 a month for life, untaxed. Upon John’s death, Cynthia would have continued receiving the benefit as his surviving spouse. John’s initial demand to the State Compensation Insurance Fund was for $4 million. Cynthia demanded $271,000 for her services as her husband’s caregiver during the previous two years, and indicated this amount was growing every day.

Source: Sacramento DA’s Office