Four arrested in Miami on personal insurance fraud

Four South Florida men have been arrested in insurance-billing fraud cases totaling $145,000, Florida officials announced Wednesday.

The arrests involved three cases in which the suspects are accused of staging crashes and submitting phony claims, according to Florida Department of Financial Services’ Division of Insurance Fraud.

The four men were booked into Miami-Dade County jail on charges of insurance fraud and grand theft. The state gave these details on the cases:

▪  Nayef Casas Diaz: The owner of the M & N Rehabilitation Center in Miami is accused of organizing a staged accident scheme. According to the arrest report, in 2011 Casas conspired with witnesses to crash cars and call police. Casas reportedly paid each participant $1,000 to receive treatment from M & N and another clinic, according to the report. Insurance paid a total of $63,000. Casas’ lawyer, Frank Quintero, discounted the case. “Some of the charges, at least half, are improper because they exceed the statute of limitations time period,” he said. “My client will be pleading not guilty to all charges.”

▪  Alexis A. Gonzalez and Erick A. Perez: Both are accused of directing an undercover state insurance-fraud agent posing as a patient to sign documents for treatment that were not rendered. According to the state, the undercover agent was paid $1.000, with the scheme producing claims in excess of $11,000.

▪  Vicente Ortiz Alpizar: The suspect is accused of staging an accident that resulted in more than $70,000 in fraudulent claims, according to the state. After the 2011 crash, he received $1,500 from organizers and went to A & J Rehabilitation Center and D & J Rehabilitation Center in Miami and received unnecessary treatments, the state said.

This story was originally published August 5, 2015 at 5:57 PM with the headline "Four arrested in Miami on personal insurance fraud."