“Operation No Pain No Gain” Relinquishes Over 50 Warrants

Hillsborough County deputies should be very proud of themselves recently. A five-month investigation into staged crashes and insurance fraud has ended in arrest warrants for 53 people.

As part of Operation No Pain No Gain, search warrants were also issued and served to four medical clinics –Doctor Florida Rehabilitation, Injury Health Care Therapy, Recovery Rehabilitation Services, and Healing Touch.

According to TBO.com (Tampa Bay Online), while some of the suspects are accused of participating in crashes, several others are said to have been running the clinics that were involved in the scams. According to deputies, the charges for these individuals range from filing false insurance claims to conspiracy to commit racketeering.

“By no means is this the end,” Chief Deputy Jose Docobo.

Authorities stated that the clinics scammed insurance companies out of $1 to $2 million during the course of the investigation. Among the accused were several office managers, a billing clerk, a massage therapist and receptionists.

Fraudulent claims take advantage of loopholes in Florida’s personal injury protection, or PIP, insurance. All Florida drivers must carry “no fault” insurance, which entitles them to $10,000 in medical care for injuries sustained in a wreck, regardless of blame.

Ronald Poindexter, the National Insurance Crime Bureau director in Tampa, stated that in Florida alone, from 2008 to 2010, PIP fraud totaled $853 million, which includes vehicle damage and medical treatment.

Poindexter called PIP “a personal slush fund for unscrupulous individuals.”

Costs incurred by insurance companies from staged crashes are passed down to policyholders as a PIP “fraud tax” of about $50 per vehicle, he said.

According to statistics compiled by the National Insurance Crime Bureau, last year in Florida, insurers reported more questionable claims on crashes than in any other state. Out of all the cities in Florida, Tampa had more than any other.

Tampa is considered the nation’s epicenter for staged crashes. Statewide, such claims increased 119 percent from 2008 through 2010. In Tampa, they jumped 491 percent.

Investigators said that there are recruiters who will solicit people to stage crashes and then have them go to a particular clinic, where they will sign blank medical forms. Participants are then coached on how to describe their pain and injuries.

These staged wrecks also usually involve multiple drivers and passengers, because the criminals want to collect the maximum payout from the insurance companies.

The Hillsborough sheriff’s office said it first saw a pattern of questionable crashes in September 2009.

In April of 2010 alone, deputies are said to have arrested about 55 people in connection with a fraud ring that staged nearly three-dozen “accidents.” Some of those people were charged with setting up the collisions, while others were accused of running two of the clinics that were helping out with the scheme.