MIAMI, Fla. – Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis and the Department of Financial Services and State Attorney Katherine Fernande Rundle today announced the recent sentencing of Braulio Valenzuela, for filing a false insurance claim claiming benefits from a Personal Injury Protection (PIP) clinic.  Valenzuela claimed, that as a pedestrian, he was struck by an elderly woman reversing her vehicle out of a convenient store’s parking space May 5, 2015. 

 

City of Miami Police Department and Fire Rescue were called out on scene and treated Valenzuela for minor abrasions on the back of his head. Valenzuela was then treated at a local PIP clinic for two months, resulting in the insurance company being billed for more than $14,000.   

 

The elderly driver denied that she struck Valenzuela which sparked an investigation by the Division of Insurance Fraud into Valenzuela’s claim. Upon review of the convenient store’s security footage, Valenzuela can be seen sitting in his vehicle parked in the parking lot for over an hour before exiting his vehicle as the elderly driver was seen walking out of the store to her vehicle.

 

Valenzuela stood behind another paralleled vehicle for a few seconds waiting for the elderly driver to put her vehicle in reverse.  As the driver put her vehicle in reverse, Valenzuela was seen walking up behind the moving vehicle and then proceeded to act as if he had been struck.

 

Upon further background investigation, Valenzuela has an extensive criminal background and was found to have been involved in at least six different alleged pedestrian loss cases since 2012 claiming very similar scenarios of drivers running into him.

 

Valenzuela was arrested November 5, 2015 and charged with insurance fraud.  Valenzuela was found guilty March 30, 2017 and sentenced to ten years in prison without bond as a habitual felony offender November 16, 2017.