Florida home inspector used stock photos 200 times, defrauding citizens, DFS says

A Florida home inspector allegedly used the same stock photos in more than 200 home and wind mitigation inspections, costing Citizens Property Insurance Corp. more than $88,000, the state Department of Financial Services said after the man was arrested.

Jasiel Mena, former certified inspector and head of Mena Home Inspections Corp. of Spring Hill, Fla., was charged last week with fraud. An investigation by DFS investigators found that Mena was hired to provide dozens of four-point inspections and wind mitigation for citizens in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

But Mena may not have actually inspected homes in Hernando, Hillsborough, Pasco, Lee, Pinellas, Charlotte and Polk counties. He reused some of the same photos that purported to show many of the homes had measures in place to minimize storm damage, Florida’s chief financial officer said in a statement Thursday.

This resulted in lower home premiums, cheating citizens of more than $42,000 in premium income, DFS said. The scheme also forced citizens to re-inspect each property at a cost of $38,000. In addition, the alleged fraud exposed citizens to potential storm claims and losses.

It was unclear whether Mena’s wind inspections were done for the My Safe Florida Home program, which provides matching grants for homeowners to upgrade their homes in exchange for premium discounts, or if Mena did inspections for other carriers of insurance.

Investigators determined Mena acted alone, DFS said. Florida Secretary of State records show Mena also owns or operates a garbage company in Spring Hill.

Mena was booked into the Hernando County Jail on Sept. 4. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison.

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