VALLEY VIEW, Ohio — An undercover investigation catches a Cleveland cook with his hand in the cookie jar, and now the double dipping cook is now being forced to give back a lot of “bread.”

58-year-old Walter Patterson of Berea was reportedly breaking the law just by working at a tavern in Valley View.

According to the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation, Mr. Patterson had an industrial accident for which he filed a claim with the Bureau of Workers Compensation that he was temporarily totally disabled.

Agents with the Bureau of Workers Compensation had received a tip that Patterson was working while collecting benefits, so undercover agents posed as customers at the tavern.  During the investigation, it became clear that Patterson’s back injury was not preventing him from working as a cook at the tavern.

Modern technology then revealed that Patterson was in fact working a regular schedule while still collecting benefits.

When confronted with the evidence, Patterson pleaded guilty to workers compensation fraud, and was ordered to repay the nearly $46,000 that he, in essence, stole from the Workers’ Compensation Fund.