A Florida home inspector allegedly used the same stock photographs in more than 200 home and wind-mitigation inspections, costing Citizens Property Insurance Corp. more than $88,000, the state Department of Financial Services said after the man was arrested.
Jasiel Mena, formerly a licensed inspector and head of Mena Home Inspections Corp. in Spring Hill, Florida, was charged last week with fraud. An investigation by DFS investigators found that Mena had been hired to provide dozens of four-point and wind-mitigation inspections for Citizens in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
But Mena may not have actually inspected the homes in Hernando, Hillsborough, Pasco, Lee, Pinellas, Charlotte and Polk counties. He re-used some of the same photographs that purported to show that many of the homes had measures in place to minimize damage from windstorms, Florida’s chief financial officer said in a statement Thursday.
That resulted in lower premiums for the homes, cheating Citizens of more than $42,000 in premium revenue, DFS said. The scheme also forced Citizens to reinspect every property at a cost of $38,000. In addition, the alleged fraud exposed Citizens to potential claims and losses from storms.
The reported photo fraud also cut the other way, DFS explained. Some of the stock photos did not show actual mitigation work that had been done on some homes. After new inspections, Citizens refunded those homeowners about $7,000.
Mena’s wind inspections predated and were not related to the My Safe Florida Home program, which provides matching grants for homeowners to retrofit their homes in return for premium discounts. It was unclear if Mena made inspections for other insurance carriers.
Investigators determined that Mena had acted alone, DFS said. Florida Secretary of State records show that Mena also owns or manages a dumpster company in Spring Hill.
Mena was booked into the Hernando County Jail Sept. 4. If convicted, he could face up to five years in prison.
Topics Florida
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