Please join us in congratulating the following Department of Financial Services employees who were recently promoted to help us fight fraud/arson in Florida!

Florida Division of State Fire Marshal – Bureau of Fire and Arson Investigation

Bureau Chief John Corbett

Division of Insurance Fraud – Central Florida Region

Lt. Karen Huber Tampa PIP Squad
Lt. Doreen Rapp Tampa General Fraud & Worker’s Compensation Squad
Lt. Jewel Cameron Orlando PIP Squad

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Staged accident trial results:

Jean Moreau, who coordinated numerous staged auto crashes in the St. Petersburg and Tampa area over the years, was arrested on August 1, 2006 for a staged auto crash that he had organized and did occur on April 25, 2004.

A total of six individuals were arrested along with Moreau related to this one auto crash that occurred on April 25, 2004. Four of the arrested individuals pled guilty. They received probation and restitution was court ordered. These four individuals all identified Moreau as the staged crash organizer and agreed to testify against him in criminal court. The fifth arrested individual failed to appear for his scheduled trial and there is currently an active warrant for his arrest. 

The sixth arrested individual, Moreau elected to go to trial on November 18, 2008. On November 19, 2008 the jury convicted Moreau of the crime of False and Fraudulent Insurance Claims Involving an Intentional Motor Vehicle Crash, FSS 817.234(9). Judge Federico immediately sentenced Moreau to 7 years in the State Prison system with a minimum of 2 years imprisonment, investigative costs of $450, court costs of $100, $100 lien for the Public Defenders Office and a fine of $475. There was no restitution court ordered because Moreau never received any of the Insurance settlement money. 

There currently are several holds on Moreau from other Counties for his criminal activity in their jurisdictions. There is also a Federal hold on Moreau from ICE who anticipates deporting Moreau after he serves his time in Florida for this felony conviction.

-Thank you to Lt. John Womer from St Petersburg Division of Insurance Fraud for providing the above summary.

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Ongoing investigations:

As you are aware there are ongoing efforts underway to fight insurance fraud in the Central Florida Region. 

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Membership renewals will be due again in January 2009. Some companies prefer to pay their dues at the end of the previous year. Please see the attached application or consult our website. Please be sure to list your International IASIU membership number on your renewal application. We ask that law enforcement members submit an application, however, they do not pay dues. 

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FACAP - Florida Advisory Committee on Arson Prevention

As you are aware, Central Florida IASIU and FACAP have a joint meeting once a year to bring our members together and provide training that is useful to both organizations. We had a great turn out at this year's meeting and hope to continue that success in the future. 

I had the opportunity to attend the FACAP Seminar at the Florida State Fire College and wanted to compliment the organization on their seminar, members and speakers. We have many opportunities to attend training throughout the year and I found their program to be very informative and useful in my theft and arson investigations. I look forward to attending the seminar in the future.

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Thank you for your time and attention. 

We wish you all a safe and happy holiday season. Please help us with Toys for Tots to make sure many children have a great holiday!

Sincerely,

Juli Hyde
Central Florida IASIU President

As most of you are aware, there have been recent promotions in the Central Region for the Department of Financial Services, Division of Insurance Fraud.

Please join us in congratulating our local Law Enforcement members on their accomplishments and wish them well as we now share them with other areas of the state.

Major John Corbett – recently promoted from Captain of the Central Florida Region to Law Enforcement Major serving as the Bureau Chief of Workers’ Compensation Fraud.

Captain Michael Byrne – recently promoted from Lieutenant of the Tampa Field Office to Captain of the Central Florida Region for the Division of Insurance Fraud.

Crime Intelligence Analyst Supervisor Kathy Morris – recently promoted from Crime Intelligence Analyst of the St Petersburg Field Office to Crime Intelligence Analyst Supervisor of the Central Florida Region.

Section two is amended to include the newly created Chapter Advisory Committee and Finance: Section 4 is added, per accountant recommendation to allow for the distribution of funds upon dissolution of the chapter.

We are required to notify members 30 days out from the vote for proposed bylaw changes to allow review for a vote. THe current bylaws can be found here.

Proposed changes:

Section II - Board of Directors

The Board of Directors shall include eight (8) members: which will include the President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, three (3) board members, one of which will be the outgoing President, and the Chairperson of the Chapter Advisory Committee. This appointment will not restrict the ability of a person employed by the same member company to run for any other office.
In addition, there will be a Chapter Advisory Committee consisting of all former presidents who currently meet the following requirements: active current membership in the national and local chapters, and past president. The Chairperson of the Chapter Advisory committee will be the most recent former president and will have voting rights only in a case of a meeting required and the inability to gather a quorum and/or break a tie.

Finance: Section 4 - Dissolution

If the Officers and Board of Directors, by a majority vote, in addition to a consenting vote of two-thirds (2/3) of the members present at any regular or special meeting of the Chapter, determine to dissolve the Chapter, any remaining funds/assets of the Chapter shall be distributed to a fund, foundation or corporation organized and operated exclusively for the purposes specified in Section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or corresponding section of any future Federal tax code.

March 31, 2008: President's e-mail

FIFEC Awards - I wanted to send a note to remind everyone that FIFEC awards nominations are open. There are awards for SIU Investigator of the year, Law Enforcement Investigator of the year, and Outstanding Service. You can submit a nomination on the FIFEC web site.

FIFEC Volunteers - The Operations Committee at FIFEC needs volunteers to assist as room monitors for classes and more. You can submit your information to volunteer at the FIFEC web site.

FIFEC Web Site: http://www.fifec.org
One of our members, Elizabeth Somers from AIG, is the new web master for FIFEC and has done a great job on the redesign and enhancement of their site.

CFIASIU Web Site: http://www.cfiasiu.org
Elizabeth is now our web master as well, and has done a great job with our new web site. Please bookmark our site and check it often. The site is still under construction, and we'll be making updates and adding news or event information periodically. There is a calendar of events page, and a links page with a lot of links of interest. Our first president, Ken Keebler, has assisted us with putting together a history of our chapter, and you will find it on our web site. If anyone has any input or suggestions about what they would like to see added, please let me know.

MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS: Renewal of membership and dues for 2008 are now due. If you haven't renewed, please do so. If anyone needs a membership application, we have a link to it on the membership page (.pdf file at the bottom of that page). We ask that law enforcement members submit an application, but they do not pay dues.

IMPORTANT: Our next meeting will be held on 5/20/08 at the FDLE Headquarters on N. Lois Avenue near W. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. No more Golden Corral. I'm working on a speaker for this meeting, and we will also have an intelligence exchange at the end of the meeting. Coffee and Donuts will be provided. Please mark your calendars and plan to attend. I'd like to see at least 50 people at the meeting.

ELECTIONS: There will be no need for an election this year. All candidates are running unopposed. The following is a list of officers for the 2008-2010 term:
President: Juli Hyde
Vice President: Glenn Nicholson
Secretary: Jennifer Liotti
Treasurer: Gary Hodge (this position was not up for election this year).
Directors: Deb Gale, Brian Cobb, Ken Mizell

The new slate of officers take office immediately following the FIFEC Conference in June, and will preside at our July meeting.
I have appointed Rick Swann, past president, to chair a new "Advisory Committee." We will be discussing an official by-laws change which will incorporate this committee. The requirements for the "Advisory Committee" will be active membership in the local chapter and parent IASIU organization, and the person must be a past president of the Central FL Chapter IASIU. Past presidents rotating off of the Director position held by past presidents will fall into this committee as long as they meet the requirements. The advisory committee chair will only have a vote if needed to fulfill a quorum at a board meeting. We have an Advisory Committee at FIFEC, and it has been a valuable resource.

Thank you,
Ken Mizell, FCLA, CIFI