Construction company accused of building a $57,000 insurance fraud on Miami-Dade County
A construction company’s owner and office manager tried to make a little extra profit on two Miami-Dade County projects with $57,228.20 of insurance fraud.
That’s the claim in the arrest warrant that resulted in the jailing of ABC Construction owner and president Jorge Gonzalez and office manager Laura Gonzalez, no relation. They’re accused of submitting reimbursement paperwork for insurance premiums the company didn’t pay.
Jorge Gonzalez, 55, faces three counts of criminal use of personal identification information, three counts of uttering a forged instrument and one count of second-degree grand theft. He posted $40,000 bond Wednesday.
Laura Gonzalez also is out of jail after posting $25,000 bond. She is charged with two counts of uttering a forged instrument and criminal use of personal identification information.
As a business entity, ABC Construction has been charged with one count of grand theft, one count of organized scheme to defraud, five counts of uttering a forged instrument and five counts of criminal use of personal identification information.
State records say ABC has been registered to do business in Florida since 1990. The arrest warrant says the company has done various projects for Miami-Dade County over the last 25 years.
“It is unfathomable that a company that has made over $60 million from the taxpayers of Miami-Dade County would stoop so low to defraud the county in this manner,” Miami-Dade Inspector General Mary T. Cagle said. “In addition to the ongoing prosecution, the OIG will be pursuing debarment of this company and its principal from any future county work.”
Though the investigation began this year, it concerns the 2014-started construction of the two-story Joseph Caleb Parking Garage at 5400 NW 22nd Ave., and the 2015 building of a pedestrian bridge over U.S. 1 at the University Metrorail Station in Coral Gables.
ABC used Hemisphere Insurance Group for the standard insurance contractors carry when working on projects.
An example of the problems that the inspector general’s office says it found: Documents included with the arrest warrant say Hemisphere invoiced ABC for a total of $71,506.91, including a down payment of $18,000. Laura Gonzalez sent a check to Hemisphere on Nov. 26, 2014 for that $18,000.
The receipt submitted to Miami-Dade County by ABC for reimbursement says ABC paid $71,506.91 in full on Dec. 1, 2014 by check No. 27974. But ABC didn’t actually pay Hemisphere that amount or with that check.
The warrant says that check No. 27974 from that ABC bank account actually went to Pro Premium Finance Company for $9,245.01 on a completely different matter.
Miami-Dade County Office of the Inspector Special Agent James Kennedy wrote in the warrant the “altered receipt of payment contained Hemisphere’s corporate identification information so as to appear as an official document from Hemisphere.”
This story was originally published December 19, 2019 at 1:36 PM.
