Two licensed public adjusters working in Miami, Fla. have beenarrested for submitting bogus contractor agreements.

Jose Manuel Soler and Ariel L. Fernandez, both of Coast to CoastPublic Adjusters, have been accused of submitting approximately 75forged agreements, which resulted in an overpayment by CitizensInsurance of more than $314,000. Citizens is Florida's insurer oflast resort, meaning that it provides insurance to homeowners inhigh-risk areas and others who cannot find coverage in the open,private insurance market in the hurricane-prone state.

Detectives from the Department of Financial Services' Divisionof Insurance Fraud said that 29 forged contractor documents alsowere submitted to the Tower Hill Group, resulting in a loss ofapproximately $125,000. The forged contractor agreements weresubmitted in order to obtain an additional 20 percent of theestimated claim for overhead and profit. The fraudulent contractoragreements stemmed from real claims for water-pipe damage.

Both Soler and Fernandez surrendered on the charges, whichconsisted of 104 counts of insurance fraud, 104 counts of grandtheft, and one count of organized scheme to defraud. Bail wasexpected to be set at $1.05 million.

Following each storm season in 2004 and 2005, Tom Gallagher,Florida's chief financial officer and head of the Department ofFinancial Services, capped public adjusters fees that could becharged to storm victims and implemented a 14-day period forvictims to rescind public adjuster contracts without a penalty.