Teachers Enters Plea for PEIA Fraud

A Kanawha Valley teacher has pleaded guilty to defrauding PEIA. Thomas Watkins was giving probation, and will have to pay $60,000 in restitution to the PEIA and Kanawha County schools after investigators said he didn’t report his divorce, and his wife continued to get insurance benefits for ten years. Watkins is a teacher at Riverside High School. In exchange for the guilty plea, prosecutors dismissed the second count relating to defrauding Kanawha County Schools.