TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – Five more people are charged in connection to a million dollar fraud scheme, Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia announced.
Briana McCarthy if facing a litany of charges after allegedly defrauding state agencies out of $1.7 million by approving fraudulent property damage claims while she was working as a Risk Management Program Specialist for the Florida Department of Financial Services.
Now, five more people are facing fraud charges.
Brianna Hannan, a former employee of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, is charged with Grand Theft, according to Ingoglia’s press release.
Arrest papers say Hannan was a subject of one of the fraudulent claims, resulting in her cashing a check for over $7,000.
Those documents said Hannan told investigators she knew a relative of McCarthy, but was not approached by anyone about the scheme. She also said, when shown a copy of the check she cashed, that she did not recognize it.
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Carlotta Hawkins, also a former Department of Business and Professional Regulation employee, is charged with Grand Theft and Cash Deposit Bank Item with Intent to Defraud.
Arrest documents show Hawkins submitted a claim to the Department of Transportation and McCarthy asked her for documents related to claim, including a car VIN number and estimates of damage repair.
The VIN number provided did belong to Hawkins, but had not been involved in any crashes since 2021, according to arrest documents. The other documents were never provided, but McCarthy approved the claim, resulting in a check of over $7,000.
Arrest papers show Hawkins knew a relative of McCarthy’s who told her about the scheme.
Carlotta Hawkins and Brianna Hannan are facing fraud charges in connection to a $1.7M fraud scheme(CJIS)
Kearia Walker and Kavon Reese are also charged with Grand Theft.
Whitney Branch is charged with Grand Theft and Cash Deposit Bank Item with Intent to Defraud.
The three all allegedly cashed checks for over $7,000, according to arrest documents.
WCTV is working to obtain booking photos of Walker, Reese and Branch.
Additional arrests are expected to be made, according to the CFO press release.
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