VIRGINIA GARDENS, Fla. – State investigators arrested two men and one woman Thursday morning after accusing them of operating a “fraudulent insurance school” in Virginia Gardens where prospective insurance agents would pay to have someone else take state licensing examinations on their behalf.
Father-son pair Rainier Miguel Salas, 59, and Rainier Alexander Salas, 27, both of Miami, are accused of operating D&R Academy out of an office building at 6405 NW 36th St., near Miami International Airport. Investigators allege that the two took tests on behalf of paying clients.
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Karla Lit Peralta, 26, of Miami Gardens, is accused of assisting them in the scheme, which authorities said ran from November through February.
Peralta and the younger Salas are both licensed insurance agents, according to state officials, who said the elder Salas is “prohibited from insurance activities in Florida.”
According to arrest reports, the state became aware of the scheme after an external company’s audit revealed “multiple inconsistencies” suggesting “misconduct” in the examination system, which is operated by contractor Pearson VUE — abbreviated in the reports as PV.
Pearson VUE’s “internal investigation of this data revealed that approximately 820 exams were subverted via a small subset of computers,” six in total, “that were not from an authorized testing center and not consistent with an individual tester’s standard patterns, where they may use their personal computer once or twice on a personal exam,” the reports state.
The state suspended licenses based on the list of registrants and Florida Department of Financial Services investigators conducted a sampling of interviews, which pointed to D&R Academy, “where subjects would pay approximately $400 to $2,000 for the license they were attempting to acquire via someone who would take the test for them,” the reports state.
In the arrest reports, investigators laid out the basis of the “illicit enterprise” based out of the “unlicensed and unsanctioned fraudulent insurance school and testing center.”
Authorities said Peralta and the elder Salas ”negotiated with the witnesses, pricing approximately $400 for the Florida 2-15 Life & Health license and (charged) approximately $2,000 for the Florida 2-20 Property & Casualty Insurance license.”
Peralta, a receptionist, helped create accounts and schedule testing dates, authorities said.
“The independent witnesses’ statements all concurred that Peralta would take their pictures and instruct them to remove their watches and phones before directing them to sit in a soundproof room adjacent to where Salas would be sitting,” investigators wrote. “Salas would subsequently enter and place a MacBook laptop logged into the witness’s PV account on the desk. Salas would tell them that if a proctor asks them to show the room, they should lift the laptop computer, turn to show the room, place it back on the desk, place their hands on the sides, and not move, and he would be controlling the computer from next door.”
Authorities said the elder Salas would then leave the room as the clients observed the testing begin on the computer.
“The questions populate the screen, the mouse moves and answers are selected without their control,” the reports state.
The father-son pair is each facing charges of organized scheme to defraud, representing or aiding an unauthorized insurer, acting as an insurance agent without a license and criminal solicitation.
The elder Salas is facing an additional count of unlawful use of a communications device.
Peralta is facing charges of organized scheme to defraud and unlawful use of a communications device.
All three were set to bond out of the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center as of Thursday afternoon, according to jail records.
Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis released a statement following the trio’s arrests Thursday.
“Florida’s insurance agents and agencies are held to the highest professional standards and are crucial to guiding consumers through the insurance landscape and supporting them during critical times like filing claims following disasters. It’s reprehensible that this father and son duo facilitated cheating on the state insurance exam just to make a quick buck. Such fraudulent behavior undermines the trust and integrity expected of our state’s licensed insurance agents. In Florida, we fight fraud in all forms and I thank our fraud detectives, the Bureau of Agent Investigations, and the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office for their diligence in apprehending these perpetrators and bringing them to justice.”
Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis