TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – After six people were arrested for defrauding Florida taxpayers in a scheme involving property damage claims processed through the Florida Division of Risk Management, Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia announced that the total number of arrests has increased to 10.
Shelton Allen, Latasha Belford, Cervantes Galloway and Ni’jah Johnson have each been arrested for alleged grand theft. Allen, Belford, and Johnson also face charges connected to fraud.
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The alleged fraud totaled $1.7 million.
“I said it before, and I’ll say it again: if you steal from Florida taxpayers, you will go to jail,” Ingoglia said. “I promised that my investigators would be making more arrests in this case, and I am proud to announce that we have delivered on that promise.”
He added, “As CFO, I will continue to root out waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer funds at every level.”
The Florida Department of Financial Services Criminal Investigations Division (CID) made the arrests, with full cooperation from all state agencies.
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Previous arrests in this case include the arrest of Briana McCarthy, a former Department of Financial Services employee, who is believed to have led the operation.
Officials say she processed over 220 suspicious property damage claims, resulting in $1.7 million in fraudulent payouts.
McCarthy faces charges including grand theft, aggravated white-collar crime, money laundering, scheme to defraud, criminal use of personal identification information, communications fraud, official misconduct, and forgery.
Additionally, Brianna Hannan, a former employee of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, has been charged with grand theft, along with Carlotta Hawkins, also a former employee of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, faces charges of grand theft and cash deposit bank item with intent to defraud.
Kearia Walker, Whitney Branch, and Kavon Reese have also been charged with grand theft.
Branch faces an additional charge of trying to cash a deposit or bank item with the intent to defraud.