Orlando, Fla. - At Monday's opening general session, the International Association of Special Investigation Units (IASIU) continued its long-standing tradition of presenting several awards to distinguish members of its association: Investigator of the Year, Outstanding Service Award, and the Public Service Award.
The Investigator of the Year and the Public Service awards were linked to the same series of investigations that involved staged/caused accidents in the Tampa, Fla., area, which has emerged as a leader in this kind of illegal activity. This is the first time in the awards program history that two winners were linked to the same investigation.
Below are profiles of each winner and an explanation of their achievements:
Investigator of the Year:
John Halliday, Sentry Insurance
IASIU selected Sentry Insurance SIU Investigator John Halliday as the 2010 Investigator of the Year for his investigation of staged-accident activity in the Tampa area.
John initially encountered this activity in the summer of 2008 when he observed a sharp increase in questionable-accident claims. The commonalities included low-impact accidents, specific clinics and medical practitioners linked to questionable activity, and billings that were for five days a week of multiple modalities, many of the passengers and drivers were new ?migr?s to the country.
John worked with a Sentry analyst to identify background and participants linked to the clinics. Many physicians had a long history of NICB referrals and questionable activity, and were well into their eighties. Further, the clinic owners appeared to have no formal education or backgrounds for clinic ownership.
John started reviewing these claims and found commonalities such as multiple passengers in vehicles with minor damage, accidents that were reported as having taken place in remote or low traffic areas, no police reports or police presence, and all of the claimants being treated at a small number of clinics in one area of Tampa.
John worked with claims management, SIU analysts, and the claims department to develop a protocol to identify claims and conduct investigations, which included going to the clinic and inspecting records for each claim, and the SIU investigator conducting an EUO. Many of these EUOs led to admissions by the insureds that they were involved in staged-accident activity.
Many carriers in the Tampa area were not aware of this medical provider/staged-accident ring. John attended local task-force meetings to exchange information related to critical developments.
What is significant about John's investigation is that although his company is a smaller carrier, he identified and investigated more than 240 claims as being linked to these clinics. John performed the clinic inspections, more than 100 EUOs, and obtained a significant number of scaled photographs utilized for accident reconstruction. He also shared his knowledge with NICB, other carriers, the Division of Insurance Fraud, and local law enforcement.
Undercover agents from NICB, DIF, and the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office infiltrated some of the clinics, and criminal proceedings were started against the medical personnel and clinic owners/managers. More than 80 arrests have been made from information supplied by the Special Investigation Units of the affected carriers, and the criminal investigations of these clinics and staged accident participants continue.
Due to John's efforts, Sentry was able to vigorously resist a majority of claims determined to be non-meritorious. More importantly, John played a critical role in drawing attention and industry resources to focus on combating a major emerging fraud issue in Tampa.
NEXT: THE PUBLIC SERVICE AWARD
Public Service Award:
Deputy Robert Gogolin, Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office
IASIU awarded Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office Deputy Robert Gogolin with the 2010 Public Service Award. Deputy Gogolin is a road patrol officer with the central Florida department located in the Tampa area.
Deputy Gogolin observed a pattern of suspicious vehicle-accident activity in a particular geographic area.
Some of the observations and circumstances associated with multiple vehicle crash investigations made by Gogolin did not add up. For example, multiple individuals with no apparent connections would be in each vehicle, and the individuals were ready with insurance information, vehicle registrations, and driver's license information. In Gogolin's experience, these did not appear to be typical accidents.
Based on this pattern, the deputy documented these questionable accidents over a two-month period and mapped their locations. At a meeting with the Sheriff's Office in September 2009, he provided an overview of his findings to the local IASIU chapter as well as the NICB. The information developed by the deputy was consistent with trends and patterns observed by local SIUs from various carriers related to staged-accident activity. Through this contact, Deputy Gogolin also was able to educate himself to the attributes of staged-accident activity experienced by the industry.
Deputy Gogolin shared his findings and collaborated with several fellow deputies within his district. This led to an enhanced focus when responding to accident calls. When the patterns of unusual accident facts were observed by Gogolin and his fellow deputies, they questioned the drivers and passengers in detail. This led to several confessions at crash scenes from individuals who admitted to being recruited and paid to participate in a fake crash. Arrests were made at several of these crash scenes. Based on contacts the deputy made with the local SIU community, he would contact the insurance company investigator when he encountered questionable accidents.
Additionally, Deputy Gogolin and the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office began "Operation Crash for Cash," involving their Selective Operations Section. The results of this operation were just announced in April 2010. 54 people were arrested with charges that included RICO, participating in staged crashes, and filing false police reports. Further, this operation developed a significant network of confidential informants, shut down several questionable clinics, and identified several significant participants involved in these activities including accident organizers, medical personnel, clinic owners, legal professionals, and others. This operation continues to this day.
There are several things significant about Deputy Gogolin's efforts. First of all, law enforcement investigations of staged-accident activity in the Tampa area were virtually non-existent. Deputy Gogolin went above and beyond his duties to recognize an unusual pattern, learn of the issues at hand, formulate a response, and collaborate with the insurance industry. These unique efforts helped develop the critical synergy within the Sheriff's Office that took the investigation and subsequent results to the next level.
NEXT: THE OUTSTANDING SERVICE AWARD GOES TO....
Outstanding Service Award:
Cathy Gicker, Allstate
IASIU selected Cathy Gicker as the recipient of the 2010 Outstanding Service Award. Below are a few highlights of Cathy's contributions to IASIU and the industry.
Cathy started in SIU in 1990 and was a founding member of the Delaware Valley Chapter and served as the first vice president and later as a board member and president for four years. She also served as vice president of IASIU's national organization for six years and represented the organization at two conferences in South America.
Of significance, Cathy headed both the Seminar and Chapter Committees for six years. Through her efforts, Cathy was able to engage in significant relationship building with the 40 Chapters by developing the "President's Summit," so Chapters could focus on professional development opportunities and the exchange of ideas to enhance what they give back to the investigative community. This greatly assisted in empowering and engaging the Chapters, allowing them to grow in both visibility and participation under her leadership.
Cathy has also been an integral member of the Seminar committee. Her attention to detail, energy, and focus was a significant contributor to many successful annual IASIU seminars. Additionally, she recently worked with a team of insurance industry professionals to develop an anti-fraud training program for law enforcement and prosecutors.
In April 2010, Cathy was honored by Pennsylvania's Insurance Fraud Prevention Authority with their 2010 Fraud Fighter Award. Ralph Burnham, director of the IFPA, noted that "Ms. Gicker's work on behalf of Pennsylvania's insurance consumers, insurers, and law enforcement is indeed noteworthy, and for that we recognize her as a 2010 Pennsylvania Fraud Fighter."
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader
Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to asset-and-logo-licensing@alm.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.