Blog

Two men are facing charges for an alleged roofing scheme that targeted homeowners’ insurance companies across Southwest Florida following Hurricane Irma, officials said.

Brian Webb and Brandon Jourdan, 41, of Cape Coral are accused of convincing homeowners in Lee and Collier counties to submit claims to their home insurance companies with promises of a rebate that would cover their deductible,  according to Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis.

The two operated Webb Roofing & Construction LLC, court records show.

As part of the scheme, the pair allegedly enticed homeowners to submit a full roof replacement claim to their insurance related to damage allegedly caused by Hurricane Irma.

Webb and Jourdan are accused of telling their sales team to ‘solicit insured homeowners with a promise they can get them a new roof without paying the required homeowner’s deductible,’ Patronis reported.

The sales team was reportedly told to convince homeowners to submit claims for “damaged” roofs related to Hurricane Irma for full roof replacements.

As part of the con, employees had homeowners sign over their insurance claim rights and have them sign an ‘advertising agreement’ where they agreed to have signs placed in their yard, post positive reviews, and give referrals in exchange for the rebate or a credt towards the deductible amount.

Webb and Jourdan are facing nine felony counts of false & fraudulent insurance claims. They could each face a maximum sentence of up to a $45,000 fine and up to 45 years in prison.

Webb was booked into the Collier County Jail Tuesday. Jourdan was booked into the Lee County Jail on March 12 and released on bond a day later.

A judge set Webb’s bond at $45,000.

“Scam roofing schemes are driving up insurance rates for every Florida family and plaguing our state. There is no such thing as a free roof and if someone comes to your door offering rebates or kickbacks to file a roof claim on your behalf, report them to my office for fraud immediately,” Patronis said.

Florida homeowners will probably have to continue riding out a turbulent property insurance market on their own for the next year after state lawmakers ended their annual legislative session without enacting any reforms.

House and Senate leaders couldn’t agree during the roughly 60-day session on a solution to relieve homeowners of double-digit rate increases, so they passed nothing.

“Bottom line: Homeowners lost, and that’s what troubles me,” said Sen. Jim Boyd, R-Sarasota, who sponsored the main property insurance reform bill in the Senate.

Short of calling lawmakers back to Tallahassee for a special legislative session to address the problem — which some senators said was a possibility — homeowners can expect no new relief to their bills in 2022.

The property insurance industry is widely believed to be in crisis. Homeowners’ rates have been going up by double digits the last few years, and more than a dozen companies have recently suspended new business in Florida, limited the types of homes they cover or canceled policies outright. A handful of companies have gone out of business in the last two years.

Multiple lawmakers said this year that rising property insurance rates were one of the most common complaints they were hearing from constituents.

When asked Monday about the Legislature’s failure to pass a property insurance bill, Gov. Ron DeSantis pivoted to discuss the rising costs of inflation, which he has frequently blamed on President Joe Biden and Congress.

“I supported a lot of the stuff the Senate was talking about on a variety of these things,” said DeSantis, who is running for reelection this year. “I stand ready to do even more, but people should just be prepared: The gas, the groceries, utilities, all these things are going to go up in an era of fighting inflation.”

LOOKING TO ROOFS FOR A POSSIBLE SOLUTION

One issue lawmakers had hoped to tackle was the high number of roof replacement claims that industry executives say are partly to blame for rising prices. Many companies say they are now refusing to insure homes with older roofs as a result of the number of fraudulent roofers who are going door to door convincing homeowners that they can file a claim to have their roof replaced.

Last year, lawmakers tried to limit the types of advertisements roofers could offer, but a federal judge temporarily blocked it.

This year, Boyd’s Senate Bill 1728 would have required roofers to inform homeowners that they’re responsible for paying any deductibles and alert them that it’s illegal for a contractor to pay or rebate the cost of the deductible.

It also originally would have allowed insurers to offer policies that would only pay the depreciated value of the roof, or an “actual cash value” — an idea that would almost certainly leave Floridians with older homes footing most of the bill.

That idea was dropped in lieu of requiring homeowners to pay a 2% deductible for roof replacements, something considered more palatable to lawmakers. For a $400,000 home, for example, the homeowner would have had to pay a deductible of up to $8,000, or 2%, to replace a roof, with the insurer picking up the rest. The deductible would not have applied if the home was a total loss or if the roof was destroyed by a hurricane.

Replacing a shingle-roofed home can cost anywhere from about $9,000 to more than $25,000 depending on the size of the home and shape of the roof.

“It wouldn’t fix the problem, but we thought it would help the problem,” said Boyd, who is an insurance broker.

The Senate passed the bill, but House leadership wouldn’t accept it. On Thursday and Friday, with time running out for the legislative session, negotiations hinged on the House’s insistence on modifying the deductible plan. They wanted it to be optional for insurers, not mandatory.

It’s already optional for insurers, though, Boyd said. “It just wouldn’t have made any difference to the problem.”

House Speaker Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, said he had serious questions about the Senate’s 2% deductible plan, including whether it would make any difference to homeowners’ rates.

He raised a scenario of wind causing a tree to fall and destroy a homeowner’s roof.

“Does that mean you’ve got to pay 2% of your deductible, and really, it’s just sort of an act of God?” Sprowls said Monday. “I think that there’s a lot of issues like that.”

LITIGATION IS AN ISSUE

Sprowls also noted that lawmakers passed a property insurance bill last year, and that insurers say it takes 18 months for such reforms to make much effect.

“It’s frustrating for me as a homeowner. It’s frustrating for a lot of people,” Sprowls said of skyrocketing rates. “But I want to make sure that we’re making the right reforms that are going to have an impact on the marketplace and don’t inadvertently have an adverse impact on homeowners.”

There are several reasons why some insurers are struggling. According to a 2019 Florida Office of Insurance Regulation study, the state made up 8.16% of all homeowners’ claims in the country, but 76.45% of the nation’s lawsuits. The cost of reinsurance, which insurers buy to cover their claims, has gone up. And some companies that have gone out of business appear to have struggled for everyday business reasons.

The industry’s woes are affecting consumers directly. After Orlando-based St. Johns Insurance went into receivership last month, the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association approved adding a 1.3% increased assessment on all policies sold in the state.

To Joe Petrelli, CEO of Demotech, which rates Florida insurers, the proposed legislation didn’t go far enough to deal with the amount of litigation in the industry.

“Absent meaningful and significant tort reform, everything else is a drop in a bucket and a Band-Aid,” Petrelli said.

Without that reform, Petrelli said he didn’t see things improving for consumers any time soon.

“I think it’s going to be disastrous all the way around, for consumers, insurance companies, modeling companies, rating agencies, and, of course, regulators.”

Senate President Wilton Simpson, R-Trilby, said there is a “possibility” that lawmakers will return for a special legislative session. The last time the Legislature went into a special session over property insurance was 2007.

“We were disappointed we couldn’t get more done this year, but that’s part of the process,” Simpson said last week. “And so we decided it would be better for the next Legislature to take that issue up.”

St. Johns Policy Holders
 

Due to hurricane losses, fraudulent roof claims and excessive claims litigation St. Johns Insurance Company is now insolvent and will be liquidated by the Florida Department of Insurance.

Under the liquidation order starting on March1 2022, all of St. Johns Florida insurance policies are going to be cancelled and immediately transitioned to Slide Insurance Company.

Your Slide coverage will begin immediately and it will continue to provide the same coverage as your prior St Johns policy for the remainder of your current policy term.

There will be no gaps or changes in the terms of your new Slide policy. Your coverage and the premium will be exactly the same as your old  St. Johns policy.

When your replacement policy expires, you will receive an offer for a twelve month Slide policy. This renewal policy may have different terms of coverage and different premiums than the replacement policy.

Slide will notify your mortgage company, if you have one, and provide all required information. Slide will send your invoice to your mortgage company for payment.

How to Make a Payment
 

Call Slide Customer Service at (800) 748-2030.
 

Mail Payment to:                                                    Overnight payment:

Slide                                                                          Slide
PO Box 1779                                                            1516 Washington Street
Columbia, SC 29202-1779                                     Columbia, SC 29201

 

How to File a Claim
 

Claims incurred prior to March 1, 2022:

          Call: (877) 748-2059 or

          Customer Service: (800) 748-2030

Claims for losses on or after March 1,2022:

            Call Slide Insurance claims at (866) 230-3758 or

            Slide Insurance Customer Service at (800) 748-2030 or

            https://slideinsurance.com/stjohns/

Citizens plays a unique role in Florida’s property insurance market by providing coverage to eligible policyholders who can’t find it at comparable rates in the private market.

One reason Citizens is often the least expensive option is the way we’re built. Unlike a private insurance company, Citizens is required by law to levy assessments on its customers if funds set aside to pay claims have been exhausted after a major storm or series of less severe storms.

For Citizens policyholders, those assessments can be substantial. While Citizens remains in a strong financial position, it’s important that you understand the assessment process and how it impacts you.

Here’s how assessments work:

• If Citizens depletes its surplus and incurs a deficit, it must levy a Citizens Policyholder Surcharge of up to 15% per account for each of Citizens’ three accounts – the Personal Lines, Coastal and Commercial Lines accounts. If a deficit is incurred in each of the three accounts, policyholders would see a 45% surcharge. These surcharges are added to your annual premium.
• If a deficit remains in the Coastal Account after levying the Citizens Policyholder Surcharge, Citizens must levy a regular assessment of up to 2% assessable statewide premium (excluding Citizens’ policies), including homeowners, auto, specialty and surplus lines policies. This means, for example, that you could also see an increase on your automobile policy even though your auto is not insured with Citizens.
• If a deficit remains in the Personal Lines and Commercial Lines accounts, and in the Coastal Account after levying the 2% regular assessment, Citizens must levy an emergency assessment of up to 10% per account per year for each of Citizens’ three accounts of assessable statewide premium. This includes Citizens and private-market policyholders for as many years as necessary until the deficit is eliminated.

That can add up. For a single policy with a $3,000 premium, Citizens’ Policyholder Surcharge alone could mean an additional $1,350 charge when you may already be recovering from a catastrophic loss.

Don’t panic! Citizens purchases reinsurance and sell bonds to protect its $6.5 billion surplus and reduce the chance that its customers will be hit by a “hurricane tax” when they are least able to afford it. Since 2015, Citizens has had sufficient claims paying ability to handle a 1-in-100-year storm without having to seek assessments.

But the risk of assessment is real, especially as Citizens continues to see its policy count rise in the face of challenges in the private market. Citizens’ customers can reduce their assessment risk by finding coverage with another company. Talk to your agent, who is in the best position to help you find the option that best fits your needs.

Things are moving fast in Florida’s distressed property insurance market.

Just days after St. Johns Insurance Co. announced it would stop writing new homeowner business in Florida, the Demotech rating agency withdrew the carrier’s financial stability rating on Thursday, due to the company’s lack of sufficient reserves and bleak financial reports.

A day later, the Tampa-based insurtech startup known as Slide agreed to take over St. Johns’ homeowners book of business, Demotech and other sources have confirmed.

"We talked with Bruce Lucas and his company and we’ll probably assign a rating in the near future,” said Demotech President Joe Petrelli.

Lucas is CEO of Slide, a startup that has gained considerable attention after the company announced it had raised $100 million in capital last November. Lucas also is known for his success with Heritage Insurance, which grew rapidly into a super-regional insurer serving 15 states. Company officials could not be reached for comment Friday.

Also this week, Avatar Property & Casualty Insurance, based in Tampa, announced that it, too, had stopped writing new business in the state as of Thursday, making it the seventh company in recent weeks to suspend new writing or to non-renew thousands of policies in Florida.

“After careful consideration, we are taking precautions for the best interests of our policyholders, agents, business partners, and associates,” Avatar said in a bulletin to agents.

Demotech also withdrew its rating for Avatar on Friday, after a call with company executives.

While a rating withdrawal often portends insolvency for carriers, Petrelli said that Slide’s assumption of the homeowner book could help St. Johns survive. St. Johns is one of the larger insurers in Florida, with more than 160,000 policyholders. The transaction must be reviewed by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, but the office may expedite the matter in light of the shrinking number of carriers willing to do business in the state.

Petrelli said Avatar may also be able find some financial assistance, but more will be known in coming days.

The St. Johns non-rating, following years of healthy financial scores, was the result of the company revealing that it would not have as much surplus on hand as the rating agency requires, Petrelli said.

“Based on conversations with the company and seeing their plan of action going forward, we decided to withdraw the rating,” Petrelli said.

St. John’s third-quarter 2021 quarterly statement shows the firm had $46 million in policyholder surplus. But since then, the financial picture has darkened, and the company said it would not have that much in the bank by the end of 2022.

“They had a disastrous fourth quarter,” Petrelli said.

It’s unclear at this point what effect the takeover by Slide, and the non-rating of Avatar, will have on policyholders. Executives with the Orlando-based St. Johns and with the Tampa-based Avatar could not be reached for comment Friday. Petrelli said the Avatar rating withdrawal may not affect existing policyholders with mortgages, unless Avatar is put into liquidation by state regulators.

Short of insolvency and liquidation, Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation can take other steps, including agency supervision, to manage distressed companies. A spokeswoman for the office said OIR is working closely with St. Johns and Avatar “to facilitate options for consumers so they have continuous access to coverage.”

Petrelli noted that St. Johns still has some amount of reserve funding.

“The question is, how does it manage its reserves,” he said.

The rating withdrawals are the starkest indication yet that Florida’s property insurance market is in meltdown, insurance industry leaders and state officials said this week. The industry has blamed hurricane losses, unnecessary and even fraudulent roof-replacement claims, and excessive litigation over claims.

Insurance groups have urged Florida lawmakers to pass a new round of legislation that could help stem the red ink. The most comprehensive bill, SB 1728, was approved Wednesday by a key Senate subcommittee, and now goes to the full Appropriations Committee.

The bill, by Sen. Jim Boyd, R-Bradenton, would allow insurers to write more policies that cover only the actual cash value of roofs, not full replacement value, except for damage due to a named hurricane. The bill also would attempt to limit solicitation by roofing contractors promising “free roofs” paid for by insurance companies, even when damage is from age and normal wear and tear.

Two more property insurers, including one of the largest insurers in Florida, have stopped writing new policies in the state, marking the fifth and sixth carriers this year to pull back from the turbulent Florida waters.

“At this time, St. Johns Insurance has made the difficult decision to suspend all new business writing statewide as of Feb. 15, 2022,” the company said in a bulletin sent to its agents.

The St. Johns closure applies to all lines of business. Any outstanding quotes had to be bound in the system by 6 p.m. Tuesday, the bulletin noted.

The Orlando-based St. Johns is listed as the eighth-largest homeowners carrier in Florida, with more than 160,000 policies, according to a list maintained by the Florida Association of Public Insurance Adjusters.

Later Tuesday, word spread that Lighthouse Insurance also had stopped writing new business.

“As we manage our reinsurance placement options, Lighthouse has made the difficult decision to suspend new business writing for all products in Florida, effective end of business today,” reads a bulletin sent to agents on Tuesday.

Lighthouse said it would honor any policies quoted Tuesday or before, with effective dates on or before Feb. 28.

The news about struggling insurance carriers in Florida has become almost routine. In the past three months, some of the best-known insurers have said they will stop writing new homeowner policies or won’t renew thousands. These include United Property & Casualty, TypTap, Florida Farm Bureau, and Progressive.

One Florida property insurance insider called a market meltdown, and other carriers will likely soon follow.

St. Johns executives could not be reached for comment Tuesday. The one-page bulletin briefly explains that the suspension is one of several actions the company has taken recently.

“In an effort to maintain balance within our portfolio, we have been employing many strategies to manage our risks: non-renewals, new business eligibility rules, rate changes, overall exposures in territories and portfolio performance,” the bulletin reads. “Sometimes, adjustments may be needed in order to adapt to the ever-changing marketplace.”

Florida agents that sell St. Johns’ policies said that the announcement did not come as a surprise in a state that has been squeezed by storm losses, spiraling claims litigation costs, and higher reinsurance prices.

“St. Johns has been pulling back for a while and increasing premiums, pushing people away,” said Chris Coulter, a managing agent in Orlando associated with the Robert O’Neil Insurance agency.

While an almost-unprecedented number of companies have pulled back from the Florida market in recent months, other carriers can still be found to write homeowners insurance, Coulter said.

“It all depends on what part of the state you’re in,” he said.

Policyholders are taking notice, though, especially with spikes in premiums this year.

“Everyone is seeing rate increases, especially when they get that letter in the mail that they have an escrow shortage,” said Bryan Madril, owner of the Madril Agency in Pensacola, which has sold St. Johns policies for a number of years.

The loss of St. Johns is not a major blow to Madril’s business, but it will force agents to scramble to find new carriers for homeowners.

“They were a good fit for us,” Madril said. “We’ll have to look for alternative markets.”

St. Johns is a privately held company that was established in 2003. It is owned by the St. Johns Holding Co. and the majority shareholder is St. James Insurance Group, a managing general agency, according to the company website.

Jesse Schalk is president and Jonathan Mertz is chief operating officer.

A company balance sheet shows that as of December 31, 2020, the company had $153 million in assets and $106 million in liabilities, along with $46 million in surplus.

Last week, the company asked for a use-and-file rate increase of 12% on HO-3 policies and a 15% increase in condo or HO-6 policies, for a total of 169,335 policies in the state. St. Johns also asked for a 14.9% increase on dwelling fire policies. That followed an 8.8% increase for some base rates, filed in September, according to an explanatory memo filed with the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation.

Lighthouse was founded in 2008 and is authorized to write in Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas.

Insurance industry advocates have said the rate increases and writing suspensions show that the Florida market is in deep crisis, affecting homeowners, businesses and the real estate market. Many have pinned their hopes on more legislation that could help curb claims litigation and roof-replacement costs, among other changes.

The most comprehensive measure, Senate Bill 1728, by Sen. Jim Boyd, passed the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee earlier this month and is on the agenda for Wednesday’s meeting of a Senate Appropriations Committee subcommittee.

“That’s the number one question we’ve been getting from agents: ‘What is the Legislature going to do to help,'” said B.G. Murphy, director of government affairs for the Florida Association of Insurance Agents.

The cost of homeowners insurance is on the rise, and not just because property values went up — almost 20% across the board — during last year’s homebuying frenzy.

How high insurance costs may go is anybody’s guess at this time. But the Federal Emergency Management Agency is now operating under a new flood insurance rate structure that changes how it looks at risk.

Furthermore, the growing number of natural disasters is forcing insurers to reevaluate their risk, with the end result almost assuredly being higher premiums. Weather is even starting to inform lending decisions, with the distinct possibility that lenders will charge more for loans in high-risk areas — or not write them at all.

Weather events always are a threat. But during last year’s first nine months alone, the National Centers for Environmental Information counted a record 18 major storms, each with losses exceeding $1 billion.

Such events are why, back in 1968, lawmakers created the National Flood Insurance Program to protect property owners from flood losses. The NFIP also protects taxpayers who fund the program by reducing Uncle Sam’s exposure. But almost annually, the NFIP well runs dry and requires additional appropriations from Congress, which, after years of inaction, has yet to reconstitute the program so it remains solvent.

Speaking of dry, as of Dec. 1, the NCEI also says moderate to exceptional drought conditions cover nearly half the country. So more disasters unrelated to flooding are in the offing, too.

To bolster its balance sheet, FEMA, which oversees the flood insurance program, has switched gears. Instead of rating risk solely on whether a house is located in a flood zone or not, the new formula looks at a variety of factors, including distance to a flood source, the severity and frequency of flooding, and property characteristics such as the cost to rebuild the property in the event of damage.

The result: Some 3.3 million homeowners who currently have coverage will pay more, according to a study from Porch, a provider of software and services to several home service industries.

The typical NFIP premium is $734 annually. FEMA predicts that 77% of those with flood insurance will see a price increase — a hike of about $88 a year for most, according to Porch’s calculations, but some by as much as $240 per year — with the remainder enjoying a lower premium. For those hit hardest, the increase will be spread over a few years.

Granted, this only impacts owners who reside within a specified flood zone. But since floods can happen anywhere, anytime and for many reasons, it is a good idea to obtain coverage no matter where you live.

Floods are not covered by your homeowners insurance, but the costs of those policies are headed up, too.

“The growing number of climate events has left the insurance business reeling,” says Jennifer Rasmussen, the author of a new white paper detailing what lies ahead for policy holders. “As the intensity and scope of future catastrophes grow, insurance rates for property owners will likely rise significantly,” says Rasmussen, a vice president at SitusAMC, a technology provider in the real estate finance business.

According to LexisNexis, 39% of all home insurance claims in 2020 were due to catastrophic weather. And the SitusAMC paper says the rise in the number of severe hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes and other weather events linked to climate change has created significant risk for insurance companies.

The impact is not limited to the coasts, either. Winter storms in Texas, for example, accounted for 40% of total property losses for insurers in the first half of 2021, and nonprofit Climate Central says the Lone Star State, not California, has the highest threat level for wildfires, with 72% of the state’s population at risk.

Of course, recent demographic and migration trends are exacerbating the problem as more people move to flood- and fire-prone regions. A projected 1.2 million more houses will be at risk of flooding over the next 30 years, according to data from the First Street Foundation.

All of this has the mortgage business on edge as companies decide what to insure and at what cost. Some lenders have already started incorporating ATTOM Data Solutions’ climate data into their decision-making scenarios, says the firm’s Todd Teta. And more can be expected to do so.

A report from the research affiliate of the Mortgage Bankers Association says lenders “will not be spared” from the ravages of climate change. The physical destruction caused by extreme weather events will “influence the behavior” of lenders, investors and government-backed loan programs, it says.

The report says severe weather could lead to more mortgage defaults, placing increasing stress on housing and housing finance’s sophisticated system of distributing risk across multiple stakeholders, including consumers, homebuilders, appraisers, originators and mortgage investors.

MBA officials say high-level industry discussions have taken place about incorporating weather-related risk into underwriting decisions. But Chief Economist Mike Fratantoni says that while regional climate models offer enough data, that’s not the case for property-level decisions. “There just isn’t enough information to make the call,” he says.

Meanwhile, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks, has told these key entities to designate climate change as a priority concern, and to actively consider its effects in their purchasing decisions.

Eventually, lenders could charge a higher rate for a loan on a higher-risk property. They could require a larger down payment or a larger homeowners insurance policy — perhaps even some sort of disaster policy. Or they just may not make the loan at all.

Citizens Property Insurance Corp. is reminding agents that it is greatly expanding the number of property inspections, starting this month, in an effort to reduce its exposure.

The inspections will come at no cost to the policyholder, and will be done by third-party inspection services. Agents will be notified and will be asked to verify the policyholder’s contact information. If property owners refuse to allow inspectors to have access to the property, the policy may be canceled or non-renewed, Citizens said in a bulletin posted last week.

Citizens, Florida’s property insurer of last resort, announced in October that it would increase the number of inspections almost 70-fold over the next four years. The number of inspections will jump from about 5,200 in 2020 to more than 350,000 by 2025.

The move will cost some $43 million, but Citizen officials say it is needed to stem the flood of new policyholders that have flocked to Citizens in recent years, as other insurers have raised rates, become insolvent, or stopped writing in Florida.

The program is a huge shift for Citizens and will take the insurer from inspecting about 1% of its policyholder properties in 2020 to more than 20% by 2025. Ultimately, some policyholders will end up paying higher premiums or spending more on repair work to bring homes up to par.

A Citizens spokesman said the motivation behind the increased inspections is not necessarily to cancel or non-renew policies.

“Our primary goal is to determine that properties are accurately and appropriately insured with Citizens by making sure that properties meet minimum standards,” said MIchael Peltier, media relations manager. “This will also make it easier for private companies looking at Citizens policies for take out offers because they will have up-to-date property information.”

Fourteen alleged insurance fraudsters are awaiting court action after they were arrested last week in southwest Florida.

In Manatee County, south of Tampa, 13 men were caught in a sting operation and charged with contracting without a license and failing to have workers’ compensation insurance on their workers, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

The sheriff’s office did not say how the sting went down. But in similar operations in recent years, authorities advertised for bids on a local residential construction project. When the contractors arrived to look at the property, authorities checked state databases and found the men to be operating outside state law and regulations. The operation was conducted in conjunction with investigators from the Florida Department of Financial Services, the National Insurance Crime Bureau.

“The purpose of the operation was to address unlicensed contractors who are working without the required contractor license and engaging in construction-class work without the required workers’ compensation insurance exemptions,” the sheriff’s office said.

Those arrested were:

Jake Gratkowski, Oved Otachy, Robert Pinas, Carlos Pena, Harold Leventry, Loren Leonard, Robert Edwards, John Small, Jonathan Pipes, Andrei Razmeritsa, Earl Brown, David Lamothe and Junio Goncalves-Fonseca.

In Naples, Florida, a former insurance agent, jailed a decade ago for pocketing premiums, was arrested last week on charges of leaving the scene of an accident.

Kenneth Elliott won local fame in 2011, when he was convicted of defrauding at least 20 policyholders. He was sent to prison and ordered to pay more than $68,800 in restitution, including $742 to his own mother, according to a report in the Naples Daily News.

Elliott was released from prison in 2018. In March of this year, he was charged with leaving the scene of an automobile accident, but he failed to appear in court and remained at large until last week.

The man has been ordered held without bond. He has applied for indigent status, claiming to have no income or assets. Court records show he has paid only about $11,000 of the restitution he was ordered to pay in 2011.

It’s not just a few Florida property insurance companies that are running into financial trouble. Almost every carrier is losing money in 2021 and the future does not look any better, the CEO of Citizens Property Insurance Co. told lawmakers Tuesday.

“It is an absolute sea of red ink across the industry,” Barry Gilway said at a Florida Senate Banking and Insurance Committee meeting. He showed sobering net income data for carriers, and few bright spots could be found.

“This is not one or two companies that are having problems in the marketplace,” he said. “This is virtually every single company experiencing negative net income – and a direct hit to surplus.”

Gilway said that 52 Florida-domiciled companies write about 79% of the market. They write $13.8 billion in premium but are backed by only $4 billion in surplus. With Florida’s market now on “life support,” and red ink rising, many insurance companies are now finding it almost impossible to obtain new capital.

That forces carriers to go out of business or drop policies and raise premiums, a growing trend that has prompted thousands of homeowners to move to Citizens in the last two years. Citizens’ policies, expected to top 1 million by the end of next year, are reaching unsustainable levels, officials have said.

Tuesday’s committee hearing was held to explore some solutions to the Florida insurance conundrum. Gilway echoed the sentiments of insurance agents, lawmakers and others who have spoken about the problem in recent months. Citizens, he said, was set up to be an insurer of last resort, yet it is limited by law and by regulators on rate increases that now set most Citizen premiums at about half of what private market insurers charge.

“We are in an insane position,” he said. “Here we are, supposed to be the insurer of last resort, but we’re not supposed to be there at 50 cents on the dollar of what private carriers charge.”

More than 90% of Citizen’s single-family homeowner policies are offered at less than what private market insurers charge. In answer to a question from Sen. Doug Broxson, R-Pensacola, Gilway said he is aware of no other state’s residual insurer that has rates so low and competes with the private market.

Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-Bradenton, pointed out the absurdity of Florida’s market. A billionaire from out of state can buy a second home in Florida, with a lower-priced policy from Citizens that is subsidized by taxpayers.

“You’re right on,” Gilway said. “Yes. The system is subsidizing those individuals.”

Sen. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, asked if Citizens had a way of tracking insurers who appear to be losing money and have complained about litigation.

“Do you have any data on the performance of insurance companies on denying and delaying claims payments and how that has had an impact on litigation,” Rouson asked.

Gilway said Citizens does not have that data, but that the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation may collect that information.