Police: Pa. Man Fakes Mom's Obit To Get Time Off

BROOKVILLE, Pa. — Authorities in northwestern Pennsylvania say a man published an obituary for his living mother in a ploy to get paid bereavement time off from work.

Relatives called The Jeffersonian Democrat newspaper in Brookville after the obit appeared to report the woman was actually alive and well. The woman herself then visited the paper.

Brookville police charged 45-year-old Scott Bennett on Tuesday with disorderly conduct.

Democrat editor Randy Bartley says he accepted the obituary in good faith after being unable to confirm the funeral arrangements at press time. He told The Derrick newspaper () on Friday that the woman was very understanding. http://bit.ly/vDDqLi

Police Chief Ken Dworek says Bennett wrote up the memorial notice because he didn't want to get fired for taking time off.

The Associated Press couldn't reach Bennett.

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Information from: The Derrick, http://www.thederrick.com

Comments

[pab08]

01:19 AM on 12/15/2011

Bet he now has a lot of time off from his job.

[pab08]

01:19 AM on 12/15/2011

There is absolutely no reason for this to be a law enforcement issue.
None.

[JuniorBug]

10:57 PM on 12/12/2011

Skyrim is destroying our society.

[OAK STREET MAFIA]

03:21 PM on 12/12/2011

I had a scam going with paternity time off...It was a good hustle. I was off 3 weeks every 9 months. WINNING!

[acarioti]

07:29 AM on 12/12/2011

I once faked being sick to get out of going to school. The next day I got sick. Just saying.....

[Brianna Cole]

04:00 AM on 12/12/2011

Sad, when people do things like this it makes employers crack down on their employees even harder. When I was in college my grandfather passed and my teacher demanded a phone call from his wife and an obituary. I was shocked.

[kimdarryl1]

11:21 PM on 12/11/2011

People before we pass judgement lets step back and think how employers are about emplyees making them rich by any mean necessary. one year my father needed a heart transplant and theytold me no I could not have time off I posted a note on the bulletin that my father needed a transplant they were pissed and then gave me time off. Burn out is the #1 cuase for someone to go to this length just for a day off. The economy is so bad he could not afford to lose his job he just wanted some needed rest.

[UnRed]

08:36 PM on 12/11/2011

How is what he did a criminal act? It won't win him Son or Employee of the Year but a crime? Not so much.

[msg]

04:29 PM on 12/12/2011

Come to think if it, you're right. They charged him with disorderly conduct, but I doubt there is a specific law for this offense. So, who gets to determine that it's disorderly conduct? I wonder if his mother asked for criminal action to be taken or if the police took that upon themselves.

[emmeaki]

07:23 PM on 12/11/2011

On the surface, this seems like a horrible thing to do, but I wonder what kind of working conditions this man had where he had to go to such great lengths just to get time off. Some companies treat their employees like slaves. One year my mother had heart surgery and my employer would not give me time off to be with her, so I just left and never went back. It seems that death is the only legitimate reason for a person to get time off, but we are not robots and we we will be better employees if we don't feel like serfs working the land for the master.

[vidian6]

01:08 PM on 12/11/2011

I think a lot of people screaming at this man need to get off their high horse. I can tell you that having years of supervisory experience, than many people have faked an illness of a relative to get out of work. Now having said that it takes a special breed to go as far as this clown did. However a lot of you have used a fake illness to get out of work.

[booker52]

12:42 PM on 12/11/2011

Good God who does this man work for the local phone company??? Yep thats how difficult it is to get time off there.

[jimithing4u]

12:19 PM on 12/11/2011

i think its funny... and sad that he had to resort to this to get some time off. when i got out of the army, i got a job, which i was thankful for at the time, at a machine shop that was hellacious about giving time off. as a matter of fact, we were told at the end of the day whether we were off the next daynor had to work (we usually worked) and if we had to come in at normal time (7am) or early (530am). the reason is because its legal to do that, and its not required in america to give time off like it is in europe. although i love my country, people need to realize we are just slaves here to make someone else their riches. and until our incomes can compensate for the price of our goods (especially goods made here in america) we will continue to be slaves.

[jimithing4u]

12:22 PM on 12/11/2011

but the fact that he was getting paid... yeah thats pretty bad.

[frank day]

11:33 AM on 12/11/2011

Rumors of my demise are premature.

[AHMatron]

10:46 AM on 12/11/2011

This is one of the things I see about people every day. It he could have used that creativity for some useful purpose, it could have taken him far. But somehow some folks never think to do that. Maybe it's inherent that some will only look for opportunity in larceny.

[Waltereg0]

10:44 AM on 12/11/2011

How is this a crime exactly? Probably the guy has been fired, so what is the point of criminal charges?