First Conviction of Staged Motor Vehicle Accident in Florida County

Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater announced the conviction of Alain Guevara, 29, of Lehigh Acres for staging a motor vehicle accident. Guevera pleaded guilty this week at the beginning of a jury trial scheduled in the 20^th Judicial Circuit Court, making it Lee County’s first conviction involving a staged motor vehicle accident, which carries a two-year minimum mandatory sentence.

An investigation by the Department of Financial Services’ Division of Insurance Fraud (DIF) revealed that Guevara and an accomplice staged a vehicle crash in August 2012 and then knowingly presented false, incomplete and misleading information for payment of a PIP claim.

The initial accident report stated that a rented truck, driven by an accomplice, failed to comply with a stop sign and collided with the vehicle driven by Guevara. Upon review of the report and damage, one of the insurance companies that received claims from the staged accident reported suspicions to DIF, and an investigation determined that damage to the vehicles was not consistent with the reported accident scenario. A vehicle damage consistency report found that the physical evidence shows that the car was not in motion at the time of impact and that the description provided at the scene of the accident was falsified.

The investigation included the subpoena of phone records, which revealed that the two parties involved in the crash were not strangers and that there were repeated calls between the drivers immediately before and after the accident occurred. The insurance companies that received the fraudulent claims were Allstate Insurance Company and REPWEST Insurance Company.

Source: Florida Department of Financial Services’ Division of Insurance Fraud