Life as a convicted felon has been lucrative for Tom Steinman. The former Fire Bureau administrator, who siphoned $120,000 from the city's coffers to feed a video poker habit, is now collecting thousands in disability benefits. Earlier this month, Steinman was sentenced to seven months in jail after pleading no contest to six counts of theft. He will begin that sentence after he completes a 30-day sentence in Washington County for theft and forgery. In the meantime the paychecks keep coming in. Steinman receives a $5,356 disability check each month through the Public Employee Retirement System. On top of that, he gets a monthly $2,042 disability check from the Veterans Administration. He's also seeking workers' compensation disability payments, which could amount to another $3,000 each month. That's nearly $125,000 per year--well above the $72,000 base salary Steinman earned as the Fire Bureau's emergency medical services coordinator. (He also may qualify for Social Security disability payments of about $1,000 a month, but those records are kept private.) The Washington County deputy district attorney who prosecuted Steinman for an unrelated theft says Steinman shouldn't be collecting such large benefits from public agencies. "I don't think it's just," says Greg Olson. "After committing these crimes, he shouldn't be in a better financial situation than he was before he committed the crimes." What really irks Olson and others is that Steinman is collecting the money based on his claim of being disabled. By law, PERS and the VA can't reveal what qualified Steinman for the payments. But during his criminal proceedings, Steinman claimed to be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder relating to his days in Vietnam ("Just Rewards," WW, Sept. 3, 1997). John Hoover, the Multnomah County deputy district attorney who prosecuted Steinman, says he's puzzled that the VA and PERS are paying Steinman disability benefits. Two psychiatrists who evaluated Steinman as part of his criminal prosecution said he was malingering. "He does not have post-traumatic stress disorder that is of any clinical significance or impact in his day to day functioning," Eugene Klecan, one of the psychiatrists, wrote. Klecan based his analysis in part on the fact that Steinman seemed to have no symptoms of the disorder for 25 years. Then, suddenly, when he was investigated for criminal wrongdoing, he began claiming the symptoms were out of control. "Credence seems to have been given to a convoluted fabric of a story and claims by a man facing indictment for felonies," Klecan wrote in a report. Hoover says Steinman isn't "evil" but has clearly shown he's willing to be dishonest with public funds. "I think a lot of people feel he's a manipulator and will use any system he can interface with for his own benefit," Hoover says. "That is consistent with my prosecution." At the same time, Hoover is looking at the bright side--the disability payments may make it easier for the city to collect the $120,000 in restitution Steinman's sentence requires. |
