County Clamps Down on Fake Car Crashes

Hillsborough County is hoping to put the squeeze on unscrupulous pain clinics that participate in insurance fraud.

Bloomingdale resident David Gonzalez, a special investigator with Infinity Insurance Co. of Tampa, met with members of the Bloomingdale Area Community Council this week to discuss the growing problem and the county’s efforts to impede those who commit insurance fraud.

Gonzalez has been attending workshops on a proposed county ordinance designed to regulate unlicensed clinics calling themselves Personal Injury Protection (PIP) Medical Providers. The insurance industry has identified 158 clinics operating in Hillsborough County.

The clinics make phony claims for people who are involved in staged traffic accidents. Dishonest residents, often recruited by the clinics, will deliberately get into fender benders with cars driven by conspirators and then claim injuries. Sometimes, said Gonzalez, the car will be filled with people, all claiming injuries.

They then go to the unlicensed pain clinics, which falsely verify the injuries and collect $10,000 in personal injury insurance for each person from the residents’ insurance companies, no matter who is at fault.

The residents involved in the so-called accidents, in turn, earn a few hundred dollars for participating in the fraud. In addition, they are able to obtain oxycodone for their faked injuries, which they can sell on the streets for a profit.

Gonzalez said Hillsborough County leads the state and is No. 2 in the country for the number of fraudulent accidents.

“The ordinance is intended to combat these fraudulent roadside clinics by making it more difficult for them to operate,” said Gonzalez. A public hearing on the proposed ordinance is scheduled for March 16.

The proposed ordinance would require licenses for certain clinics that primarily treat patients who say they suffered injuries in an automobile accident. The ordinance focuses on clinics that get all or a major portion of income from PIP claims.

“This is a billion-dollar industry,” said Gonzalez. “It’s extremely organized and even involves human trafficking because people are brought in from other countries to stage the accidents. It’s a huge business and people aren’t going to stop.”

Gonzalez said the business encompasses deceitful massage therapists and chiropractors who operate the clinics with the help of crooked doctors who travel from clinic to clinic and sometimes approve paperwork on patients without even seeing them.

“The ordinance would put more stringent regulations on the clinics and would keep these people under check,” said Gonzalez.

Pushing the ordinance is the National Insurance Crime Bureau, which says the crime is causing insurance rates to rise.

Ron Poindexter of the state office of the NICB said the clinics are stealing an estimated $4 million a month from insurers.

Bloomingdale Community Resource Deputy Curtis Warren said the fraudulent accidents also cost the taxpayer in terms of wasting precious sheriff’s office resources for investigations into faked crashes.

If the damages are less than $500, the sheriff’s office doesn’t even investigate the accident. That means there are no photos or record of the accident for insurance companies to use to fight the claim, said Gonzalez.

As a result, said Gonzalez, many insurance companies require an independent medical exam before paying out a claim. However, in many cases, it isn’t worth the expense for the insurance company to fight the claim.

Gonzalez, who works about 20 fraudulent claims a month, said investigators have criteria they use to assess if an accident has been staged. They look for accidents involving unemployed people who recently took out auto insurance policies, are driving cars over 7 years old and are in accident involving multiple people.

The Florida House Banking and Insurance Committee is looking at the problem as well. Rachel Burgin, R-Riverview, sits on that committee that has been hearing testimony from the NICB and the state’s Division of Insurance Fraud about the problem.

To review the proposed ordinance, visit http://www.hillsboroughcounty.org/communications/pubhearings/materials/2011/pipPropsedOrdinance.pdf.

A special e-mail box for incoming public comment also has been created: pipordinance@hillsboroughcounty.org.

For more information, contact Commissioner Kevin Beckner's office at (813) 272-5730.