Hillsborough deputies say they've busted wreck-staging ring

Hillsborough Sheriff's detectives say they got an inside look at a ring that bilked insurance companies, infiltrating two clinics that recruited an undercover officer to help organize staged accidents.

A total of 55 people are facing charges they participated in the insurance fraud in which insurance companies received claims for injuries that never happened, said Hillsborough Sheriff's Chief Deputy Jose Docobo. Deputies were looking to arrest 22 of those people today; 32 people were previously charged.

Some are accused of participating in crashes, others of running health clinics involved in insurance fraud scams. Charges included insurance fraud, participation in a staged accident and racketeering. Deputies investigated 35 crashes.

Deputies also served search warrants on what officials described as two phony medical clinics that recruited people to participate in the crashes, and then submitted the claims. Two other clinics are also under suspicion, Docobo said.

"These so-called clinics are nothing more than a mill for fraud and theft," Docobo said.

They don't advertise, and their "patients" are sent to them. They are staffed by massage therapists, not doctors. A chiropractor would see the patient once, sign some forms and get paid, then leave, Docobo said.

"They really don't think they're going to be caught," said one of the undercover detectives, who wore a black hood at a news conference to protect his identity, "and if they are, they think they're going to get a ticket."

Among those arrested were five people whose crash was caught by a surveillance camera on a building across the street. Detectives said the crash was staged.

Deputies released the video, showing an SUV and a car pulling into a parking lot at night. The SUV parks; the car stops behind it. The driver gets out of the SUV and walks to the driver's side of the car.

After a short conversation, the driver returns to the SUV. The car then positions itself and the SUV drives away. Three people get out of the car. The car parks and the driver turns off the headlights and gets out.

Almost immediately, the SUV drives toward the car at a high speed, and strikes it on the driver's side. The SUV drives away and the four people get back in the car.

The investigation began in September after three patrol deputies noticed a number of suspicious crashes in the western part of the county, Docobo said.

Investigators say staged crashes are a major problem in the Tampa Bay area. Insurance companies reported more questionable claims on vehicle crashes in Florida last year than any other state, according to statistics compiled by the National Insurance Crime Bureau. Tampa had the second-most such claims reported of any city nationwide.

Fraudulent claims account for $200 to $300 in insurance premiums each year per insured driver, according to an Allstate spokeswoman.

The so-called victims typically become patients at health clinics that also are conspiring in the scheme, investigators say. Those clinics could make millions billing for patients who often aren't injured.