Star of reality TV fishing program 'Wicked Tuna' gets probation for disability fraud
A star of a reality television show was sentenced Wednesday in federal court in Burlington, Vermont, to four years of probation for accepting disability benefits while working as a fishing boat captain on Wicked Tuna.
Paul Hebert, 51, also was required to pay $53,600 in restitution prior to sentencing, and was fined $5,000. He took a plea in January on two of four Social Security and Medicaid fraud charges he originally faced, according to the Associated Press and the Salem News.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services blasted Hebert for the deception: “It is outrageous that Paul Hebert pretended to be disabled and poor in order to collect Medicaid benefits while at the same time starring as a captain of a fishing boat in a national TV reality show,” said Phillip Coyne, who serves as HHS special agent in charge in Boston.
However, Hebert’s attorney pointed out that Hebert had applied for benefits in 2009, and only began working on the National Geographic Channel TV show in 2012. He was charged last year for accepting $44,000 in benefits between 2010 and 2013.
Hebert could have been sentenced to as much as five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each of the two counts to which he pled, the Salem News reports.
Hebert operates his fishing boat out of Gloucester, Massachusetts, and is featured on the show along with those on other Gloucester-based vessels as they pursue the physically challenging capture of giant bluefin tuna, which can weigh hundreds of pounds and be sold for tens of thousands of dollars.
