A lieutenant with the state Department of Correction was arrested today and charged with allegedly running a business while collecting Workers' Compensation disability payments from the state.

STEPHEN E. ZACZYNSKI, age 49, of 703 Boston Neck Road, Suffield, was charged with one count each of Workers' Compensation Fraud, Larceny in the First Degree and Failure to Maintain Workers' Compensation Insurance.

According to the arrest warrant affidavit, Mr. Zaczynski filed a claim for Workers' Compensation benefits on September 4, 2008, for an injury he allegedly incurred while working as a lieutenant in the Department of Correction.

The warrant alleges that Mr. Zaczynski was not entitled to the $12,656 he received in disability benefits because he was working at the time at New England Pellet, LLC, of which he was the owner and president. 

The arrest warrants further allege that as owner of New England Pellet Mr. Zaczynski failed to maintain the Workers' compensation insurance required by law.

Mr. Zaczynski was released on a written promise to appear and will be arraigned in Enfield Superior Court, G.A. No. 13 on October 20, 2009. 

Workers' Compensation Fraud and Larceny in the First Degree are felonies carrying a maximum prison term of twenty years on each count. Failure to Maintain Workers' Compensation Insurance is a felony carrying a maximum prison term of five years.

The case will be prosecuted by the Workers' Compensation Fraud Control Bureau of the Chief State's Attorney's Office in Rocky Hill.

The charges against Mr. Zaczynski are merely accusations, and he is presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.