Bucks woman to stand trial in workers' comp case

A Quakertown woman accused of working as a stripper while collecting workers' compensation benefits faces arraignment Friday in Bucks County. Christina Gamble, 43, waived a preliminary hearing Wednesday and a trial was tentatively scheduled for Sept. 9.

Gamble reported slipping and hurting her back while waitressing at the Red Robin restaurant in Quakertown in 2007. She collected nearly $23,000 in disability benefits and more than $4,000 in medical expenses, according to the state, "but she was observed working as an exotic dancer during the time she was supposedly injured and collecting workers' compensation payments" at a bar in Easton, according to authorities.

Gamble had told her doctor that "standing and changing positions were a problem," the state Attorney General's Office said. She faces two counts of workers' compensation fraud and one of theft by deception. Each is a third-degree felony carrying up to seven years in prison and a $15,000 fine.

In a similar case, a preliminary hearing for William Thomson, 35, of Bristol, was rescheduled from Wednesday to Aug. 31. Thomson was booked July 27 on charges of doing contracting jobs while taking in more than $68,500 in workers' comp payments. - Peter Mucha