PORT EVERGLADES, Fla. - Authorities are investigating a South Florida car theft ring that bilked millions of dollars from insurance companies by shipping cars to Jamaica and then reporting them stolen, Broward County Sheriff Ken Jenne said.
Jenne said Thursday a dozen suspects are being investigated for their roles in the scheme, both in South Florida and Jamaica, but no arrests have been made.Jamaican officials contacted the National Insurance Crime Bureau in the United States in April and told investigators that cars stolen her were ending up on the island, said Ron Poindexter, an NICB supervisor. Of the 700 stolen cars found in Jamaica, more than 300 were stolen in South Florida, officials said.
Many of the cars had been shipped to Jamaica, intact or dismantled for parts, weeks before they had been reported stolen.
Jenne said there were some cases where car owners allowed the vehicles to be "stolen" so the owners could get out of leases and garner insurance benefits. He said they waited until after the cars were out of the country before reporting the thefts.
"It's insurance fraud. It's illegal," Jenne said. "And you pay the price," he added, referring to consumers who face rising insurance rates.
Jose Soto, a spokesman for State Farm Insurance, said 1,500 people investigate suspicious claims for his company, and fraudulent claims cost the average driver $200 to $300 a year in car insurance.
Amos Rojas, regional director for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, said investigators also found that weapons and drugs were being hidden in some of the cars.
Jenne said many of the stolen cars were reassembled in Jamaica and then sold to unsuspecting buyers.
