CFO Jimmy Patronis Announces Arrest of Miami-Dade Clinic Owners for Stealing Over $45,000 in Staged Accident Scheme
1/17/2019
MIAMI, Fla.– Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Jimmy Patronis announced the arrests of Pedro Sanchez, Jorge Enrique Martinez, Ivelis Garcia, Yanisbel Rodriguez Ocana and Victor Manuel Meneses Salina after their alleged involvement in orchestrating and executing a car accident scheme to exploit personal injury protection (PIP) benefits by filing fraudulent insurance claims.
CFO Jimmy Patronis said, “Committing fraud for personal gain is appalling and raises insurance premiums for hardworking Floridians. My office will continue to hold scam artists accountable and send them to jail.”
On May 19, 2017, CFO Patronis’ Bureau of Insurance Fraud Investigators discovered that clinic owners Pedro Sanchez, of Sanchez Therapy Center, and Jorge Enrique Martinez, of Hialeah Quality Diagnostics, offered to pay participants, Yanisbel Rodriguez Ocana and Victor Manuel Meneses Salina for their involvement in a car crash as a part of a PIP fraud scheme. Once the staged accident occurred, the police were called to the scene and a crash report was generated.
Days after the staged accident occurred, the participants went to Sanchez and Martinez clinics acting as injured accident victims to receive treatment. Garcia, office manager of Quality Diagnostics, coached the participants on what to say to the insurance company regarding any therapy services. Garcia also provided the participants with blank therapy treatment forms to sign when no therapy services were ever provided by the clinics. Both clinics submitted fraudulent billing on behalf of the participants to United Auto Insurance Company and GEICO Insurance Company totaling $85,631 of which $45,145 was paid by the insurance companies.
Sanchez, Ocana and Salina were arrested on January 11, and Martinez and Garcia surrendered to law enforcement at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on January 15. All parties face charges of staged accident, insurance fraud, false claims, grand theft, organized scheme to defraud and patient brokering. If convicted, they face up to 15 years in prison.