A former clinic owner convicted of orchestrating alarge-scale PIP fraud scheme could very well spend the rest ofhis days in a Florida prison.

Having been found guilty of multiple offenses, frominsurance fraud to participating in staged accidents, DavidRodriguez must now sit and wait for sentencing next month. The46-year-old once owned General Rehabilitation Center and CrystalRehabilitation Center in Tampa, Florida. From outward appearances,business was booming. Clinic billings swelled, but so toodid questions about a trail of suspiciousclaims.

When the Florida Department of Financial Services' Division ofInsurance Fraud took a closer look, it discovered thatthe clinic was billing for treatments never rendered.Still more claims involved equipment that the facilitydid not actually possess. Investigators were soon able toidentify Lopez as the lead in securing a straw owner,controlling bank accounts, and directing fraudulent clinicoperations.

Since March 2012, there were 26 accidents with aconnection to Lopez. These crashes involved more than 60individuals, all of whom claim to have been treated at hisclinic. In fact, Lopez ultimately received an excessof $240,000 after filing claims to treat theirpurported injuries. To date, police have made 60 arrests inthe case for schemes perpetrated in both Tampa andJacksonville. That number is expected to rise, giventhe number of players posing as accident victims,recruiters and office personnel.

“This is a great win in the fight against PIP fraud in Florida,”said Jeff Atwater, Florida's CFO, in a press release. “I applaudour fraud investigators in Jacksonville and our dedicatedprosecutor at the state attorney's office, because it takes awell-coordinated effort from the fraud prevention community tobring a fraud ring leader to justice.”

Assistant State Attorney Joe Licandro of the FourthJudicial Circuit prosecuted the charges against Lopez, who wasfound guilty of schemes to defraud, insurance fraud andparticipation in a staged accident. Sentencing is scheduledfor November 2013.