MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Deputies in Miami-Dade County on Thursday announced several arrests connected to insurance fraud and a staged car crash.
Authorities are calling it Operation Crash and Cash.
Noon report:
According to the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, detectives were tipped off by an insurance company to a suspected staged crash last November on Krome Avenue, north of Southwest Eighth Street.
Deputies said the following suspects are facing charges:
- Mary Brioso, 53, of Pembroke Pines
- Enrique Brioso Cribes, 34, of Hallandale Beach
- Sergio Fernando Alfonso, 40, of southwest Miami-Dade
- Armando Mesa Lazaga, 56, of southwest Miami-Dade
- Elvis Mesa Lazaga, 60, of Miami
- Rolando Romero, 38, of west Miami-Dade
They said two brothers, Armando Mesa Lazaga and Elvis Mesa Lazaga, caused fake damage to their vehicle before asking Brioso Cribes and his wife, Brioso, to participate in the staged, single-vehicle crash.
Investigators said they discovered that five days after the crash, the husband and wife met with Armando Mesa Lazaga at an auto-repair shop along the 10700 block of Southwest 190th Street where additional damage was caused to the vehicle.
Afterwards, deputies said Armando Mesa Lazaga brought the couple to a therapist, Romero, and a therapist and clinic owner, Fernando Alfonso, who instructed the couple to sign several blank therapy forms that were subsequently used to submit payment to the insurance company, according to an arrest form.
Deputies said Fernando Alfonso submitted several therapy forms for payment, totaling $37,050.
All are facing multiple felony charges ranging from insurance fraud, to grand theft, to organized scheme to defraud and racketeering, among others.
MDSO said Operation Crash and Cash remains an active and open investigation.