A North Carolina woman who had to quit her U.S. Postal Service job and go on disability because she couldn’t lift mail bags was outed on national television as a fraudster, after pulling hard on “The Price is Right” wheel — twice — without any difficulty.
She pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges this week, stemming from a case that began years ago, the Daily Mail reported.
Cathy Wrench Cashwell claimed she hurt her shoulder in 2004 while at work and couldn’t perform the manual side of her postal duties — lifting trays of mail, carrying bags of letters, the Daily Mail reported. But she seemed fine during a September 2009 appearance on the game show.
A September 2012 indictment said she “raised both arms above her head and gripped the same handle with both hands,” and during another wheel spin, “raised her left arm above her head and gripped the handle with her left hand,” the Daily Mail said.
But this wasn’t the first time Ms. Cashwell had been captured in public performing physical activities that defied her disability claims.
In August 2010, she went zip-lining on a Carnival Cruise trip, the Daily Mail reported. In 2011, she lifted furniture and grocery bags with seemingly little problems. And all this, as she filled out her worker’s compensation claim in 2011: “[I can’t] stand, sit, kneel, squat, climb, bend, reach or grasp,” the paper reported.
She will be sentenced in September, the Daily Mail reported.
“I’ve seen every kind of case you can see,” said Allison Blackman, the private investigator on the case, in the Daily Mail. “Sometimes you have to get in the woods and bushes. The secret is you’ve got to have your camera up, when they do what they’re doing.”
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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