GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN – A brazen scheme to defraud Michigan’s automobile insurance system has come to an end with the sentencing of two Florida residents.
Belkis Soca-Fernandez, 47, and David Sosa-Baladron, 42, of Tampa, Florida, were sentenced to prison in federal court yesterday for their roles in a staged automobile accident ring that operated in West Michigan from 2012 to 2015. A federal jury convicted Soca-Fernandez and Sosa-Baladron in March of this year of health care fraud and conspiracy to commit mail fraud.
United States District Judge Paul L. Maloney sentenced Soca-Fernandez to 135 months in prison and Sosa-Baladron to 120 months in prison. When imposing the sentence, Judge Maloney commented that the conduct of the defendants was ‘an attack on the no-fault automobile insurance system in the state of Michigan that is reliant upon the truth of the claims made.’
The staged automobile accident ring operated three therapy clinics, Revive Therapy Center and HH Rehab Center in Wyoming, Michigan, and Renue Therapy Center in Lansing, Michigan, from April 2012 to May 2015. The ring recruited and paid cash to individuals to stage automobile accidents and obtain police reports so that insurance claims could be made with their automobile insurance companies.
The managers of the clinics and others working with them then told the accident participants what symptoms to present to a physician affiliated with the ring so that she would sign a prescription for physical therapy. The accident participants would then seek unnecessary therapy treatment at the clinics. Typically, after a few therapy sessions, the accident participants would sign blank therapy treatment forms that would be signed by massage therapists to make it appear as if the accident participants were obtaining treatment when they truly were not.
The therapy clinics then used the treatment forms to send false insurance claims through the United States mail to automobile insurance companies for therapy treatment that was either not necessary or not actually provided. The defendants were ordered to pay restitution of $675,066.96 to the automobile insurance companies that were defrauded.
Acting U.S. Attorney Andrew Byerly Birge stated, ‘This staged automobile accident ring operated a sophisticated fraud over several years in our community.’ He added, ‘The very significant sentences imposed by the court reflect the leadership roles played by Soca-Fernandez and Sosa-Baladron and the fact that they greatly profited from this fraud scheme at the expense of Michigan’s automobile insurance system.’
Soca-Fernandez and Sosa-Baladron are the latest of eight individuals sentenced for their role in the staged automobile accident fraud conspiracy.
Related Federal Cases
- Belkis Soca-Fernandez, Staged Accident Insurance Fraud, FL 2015 · Michigan
- Yoisler Herrera-Enriquez, Staged Automobile Accident Fraud, Michigan 2015 · Wyoming
- Kiara Nicole Hall, Wire Fraud, MI 2017 · Idaho
- Terry Lewis, Credit Card Skimming, Michigan 2024 · Florida
- Yoisler Herrera-Enriquez, Mail Fraud Conspiracy, MI 2024 · Washington
Key Facts
- State: Michigan
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes|Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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