Tag Archives: DIF

On February 18, 2016, the Department of Insurance Fraud (DIF) announced the arrest of William David Rodeffer III of Folkston, Georgia. According to DIF, Rodeffer allegedly accepted insurance premium payments totaling nearly $40,000 for two clients for insurance policies that were never purchased. One of the consumers believed he had purchased a workers’ compensation policy which covered him if one of his workers were injured on the job. Unfortunately, he had an employee who was injured and, as his employer, he was left to cover an additional $30,000 in medical bills and lost wages.  In total, nearly $70,000 in financial losses were caused by Rodeffer.

Rodeffer was a licensed insurance agent in Georgia and was working as an agent in Georgia, but moved to Yulee, Florida when his company opened a second office in Florida. Rodeffer then applied for a license in Florida, which was denied due to his criminal history, resulting in a lack of qualification to transact insurance business in Florida.

According to DIF’s three year investigation, Rodeffer continued to illegally sell insurance policies in Florida despite his denied application for licensure. During this time he repeatedly accepted premium payments from two clients for policies he never purchased, meaning that his clients never had coverage.

One of Rodeffer’s clients, a 91 year old Floridian, thought he had purchased a workers’ compensation policy from him until one of the workers’ under his policy was injured and filed a claim against the policy sold by Rodeffer. Once the worker filed the claim against the policy it was revealed that the policy never existed. Rodeffer’s client made at least 10 premium payments for the policy, which Rodeffer fraudulently kept.

A second client, American Legion Post 283, was led to believe they held general liability property insurance coverage after providing numerous premium payments to Rodeffer. The investigation revealed that Rodeffer failed to obtain insurance coverage for them as well.

Rodeffer is currently awaiting trial in Georgia for similar charges where had previously been charged in 2014 by Nassau County Sheriff’s Office for a separate offense.

Zian Scott Snyder, 29, and Alicia Maria Hill, 26, of Cantonment, Florida have been charged with scheme to defraud, insurance fraud, grand theft, and conspiracy to commit insurance fraud by the Florida Division of Insurance Fraud (DIF) for alleged false claims over a custom-made engagement ring.

According to an article on NorthEscambia.com, the couple filed a false claim on a $15,000 ring that Hill claimed she lost swimming in the Gulf. She was also recorded claiming she lost the ring on a boat in the Gulf. Four days after filing the claim with her insurance company, Hill took the ring to Marks and Morgan Jewelry store in Ft. Walton Beach to have the ring repaired.. The custom-made ring was identified by photographs taken at the Ft. Walton Beach jewelry store.

Around the same time the couple filed the insurance claim, the store manager of the Jewelry store told authorities she witnessed the ring for sale on Craigslist and that she was positive that it was the same ring in question because she was the one who custom made the ring. The couple told her that the ring had not been stolen, but was eaten by a dog and was later recovered.

A month after the couple filed the insurance claim, Hill called the insurance company to report that the ring had been recovered. The insurance company then advised that the ring or the check must be returned. Three days after Hill informed the insurance company of the recovery, she changed her story once again, stating that it was actually a different ring that was recovered.

The insurance company told state investigators that neither the ring nor the insurance proceeds were ever returned by the couple.

www.roiglawyers.com