Miami Homeowner Charged with Falsifying Insurance Claim on Patio Door Damage

Florida authorities have charged a Miami-area homeowner with fabricating and inflating damage estimates to his home in an attempt to defraud Tokio Marine Insurance Co. out of thousands of dollars.

Trevor Lawrence Taylor, 50, was arrested this week and booked into a correctional facility in Miami, Florida’s chief financial officer said in a news release. Taylor allegedly lied about the cause of damage to his glass patio doors in making a claim to his insurer. But Department of Financial Services investigators found that the doors were actually damaged by a contractor at the home who was operating a forklift, DFS said.

The contractor repaired the doors and provided Taylor a receipt of about $11,000. Taylor then fabricated receipts and altered the invoice to show an amount of $34,275, which would have allowed the homeowner to pocket more than $13,000, DFS said.

“Thank you to our fraud investigators for making this arrest and protecting Florida consumers,” Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis said.

The department did not explain how the alleged fraud came to light. If convicted, Taylor could face up to 20 years in prison.