'Disabled' Bodybuilding Firefighter No-Show For Work

BOSTON -- A Boston firefighter caught competing in a body building competition while out of work on disability leave was supposed to report back to duty Monday, but he was a no-show.

Bodybuilding Firefighter Placed On Leave

Albert Arroyo, 46, was scheduled to return to his job at the Boston Fire Department's inspectional services facility at 7 a.m. Monday, where he works as an inspector.

"Firefighter Albert Arroyo did not show up for work today as ordered by the commissioner. He has not communicated at all with the department," said the Boston Fire Department's Steve MacDonald.

Arroyo was placed on a non-authorized leave of absence. Rules state that he must be gone for 14 days before he can be fired, NewsCenter 5's Amalia Barreda reported.

"One of the things we have to investigate is are there any extenuating circumstances that absolutely prevented him from coming to work today," MacDonald said.

Late last week, the city's fire commissioner ordered Arroyo to report back to work after viewing a video of Arroyo competing in a bodybuilding competition.

When Arroyo was in the competition in May he had been on paid leave for at least two months with a disability application pending. Arroyo's doctor had diagnosed Arroyo as permanently disabled by a back injury suffered on the job.

The physician, Dr. John F. Mahoney, of Caritas Carney Hospital, told the Boston Globe his diagnosis of Arroyo's back problems was legitimate. He said he had no idea the firefighter was also a bodybuilder and said Arroyo's back injury could have been caused by his weightlifting activities.

"I'm going to look like a foolish doc getting money from the city, knowing someone's a bodybuilder and writing a letter that he's disabled, and not knowing he's a scam artist," Mahoney said in a statement.

The Globe said Mahoney has treated 25 other firefighters whose injuries he determined to be so severe that the city should award them accidental disability pensions. Twenty-one have had their disability pensions approved.