The West Central Region has three offices and covers thirteen counties and five State Circuit Courts.

Regional Commander - Michael Byrne

Captain Byrne is originally from Syracuse, New York where he lived with his wife and three children. Byrne attended Central Missouri University and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Police Science. Captain Byrne served in the U.S. Army from 1971 through 1973, assigned to the Military Police and obtained the rank of Specialist 4. In 1973 Byrne was employed as a police officer with the Hillside Police Department, Hillside, New Jersey. In 1974 Byrne joined the New York State Police where he worked uniform road patrol for 8 years and later promoted to sergeant and assigned to the Bureau of criminal Investigations. Byrne worked as an assistant unit coordinator and unit coordinator prior to retirement in 1994. From1994 through 2003 Byrne was employed with Royal Sunalliance Insurance Company as a Senior Special Investigator.

Byrne joined the Department of Financial Services, Division of Insurance Fraud on November 17, 2003. Byrne worked in the St. Petersburg Office until September of 2006 when he was promoted to Lieutenant and assigned to the Tampa Office. Byrne was promoted to Captain in August of 2008 and presently supervises the West Central Region.

Ft. Myers Field Office - Lt. Mark Fritz

In the Fort Myers Office Lieutenant Mark Fritz supervises five detectives and is responsible for referrals in Lee, Collier, Hendry, Charlotte, Glades and Desoto Counties.

Lieutenant Mark Fritz joined the U.S. Army in 1972 serving until 1979 as a Military Policeman. In 1979, he joined the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Department in Rockford, Illinois as a patrol deputy. In 1986, Mark Fritz became an Illinois State Police Trooper. During the period of 1988 thru 2007, Mark Fritz transferred to the Illinois State Police – Division of Investigations initially serving as a general case investigator but became an undercover narcotics agent for the Illinois State Police – Stateline Area Narcotics Team (SLANT). During 2003 thru 2007, Mark Fritz was promoted to Master Sergeant and assigned as the Director of the Illinois State Police - Northern Illinois Auto Theft Taskforce (NIATTF) serving North Central Illinois counties.

 

St. Petersburg Field Office - Lieutenant Carl Lane

Tampa Field Office-Lts. Carlos Rosario and Darrell Wilson

 

In Tampa, the office consists of two PIP Squads supervised by Lieutenants Carlos Rosario and Darrell Wilson. The office is responsible for Personal Injury Protection referrals in Pasco, Pinellas, Hillsborough, Polk, Sarasota, Manatee and Hernando Counties.

Lieutenant Carlos Rosario - PIP Squad #1

Lt. Carlos Rosario was born and raised in the Bronx, New York City, and attended school in the Bronx and Manhattan. After serving in the Army, Lt. Rosario joined the New York City Police Department in 1981. He was assigned to various positions in the NYPD including, uniform Patrol in the Bronx, plain clothes anti crime squad, Applicant Investigation Unit in Queens and Internal Affairs. He retired from NYPD one year after 9-11 with twenty-two and half years with the department.

After moving to Florida, he joined the Department of Financial Services in May of 2003, where he was assigned as a detective to conduct various types of insurance fraud investigations; eventually specializing in PIP Fraud.

In October 2006 he was promoted to Lead Detective and in February 2010, was promoted to his current position as Lieutenant of one of the two Tampa PIP Squads.

Lieutenant Darrell Wilson- PIP Squad #2

Lt. Darrell Wilson began his law enforcement career in 1990 with the Polk County Sheriff's Office as a Detention Deputy.

In 1993, Lt Wilson was hired by the Plant City Police Department where he worked for 16 years. During his tenure at Plant City Police Department, Lt. Wilson worked in a variety of investigative assignments to include Uniform Patrol, Community Oriented Policing Unit and the Street Crimes Unit. In 1997, Lt. Wilson was promoted to the rank of sergeant where he supervised a uniform patrol squad and the street crimes unit. During his tenure, Lt. Wilson’s street crimes squad was responsible for investigating complex drug and vice investigations resulting in multiple arrest and convictions.

In 2002, Lt. Wilson was appointed to the rank of captain where he was assigned to manage the criminal investigation unit. During the assignment, Lt. Wilson was responsible all investigations conducted by the police department from theft to homicide as well as drug and gang suppression. In 2005, Lt. Wilson was transferred to the Administrative Services Division where he performed a variety of duties to include management of evidence/property sections, police records section, information technology section, the emergency communications center and the department’s fleet management system.

In 2010, Lt. Wilson joined the Department as an investigator assigned to the Tampa PIP Squad responsible for investigating fraudulent PIP related complaints within a seven county area. In 2011, Lt. Wilson was promoted to Lieutenant. in 2012, he was transferred where he was assigned to supervise the St. Petersburg Field Office.

Lt. Wilson holds a Bachelors Degree in Organization Management and a Masters of Science Degree in Management. Lt. Wilson enjoys spending quality time with his family, and in his spare time is an active member of Plant City Masonic Lodge #206 F. & A. M. P.H.A.

 

West Central Region Case Highlights

 

Highlight #1
While investigating complaints of false and fraudulent claims by a personal injury protection clinic, New Jerusalem Messianic Synagogue doing business as Tree of Life Medical Center, DIF detectives developed information regarding multiple patients of the clinic that had certified receiving medical services at times surveillance proved they were absent.

Sherman Carter, a patient, of Tree of Life Medical Center signed treatment forms certifying receipt of multiple medical procedures. Surveillance conducted proved that he was playing golf on those days, and had not been within five miles of the clinic. The patient completed these forms in collusion with the employees and owners of Tree of Life Medical Center, knowing that these documents would be used to bill and collect monies from insurance carriers for services never rendered. Carter's arrest is an integral part of an ongoing investigation where the owners of Tree of Life Medical Center are the primary targets. Both owners are disbarred attorneys; one of which was previously a prosecutor in Hillsborough County. Sherman Carter was arrested without incident.

Highlight #2
DIF detectives, with investigators with the Division of Workers' Compensation Bureau of Compliance and Collier County Construction Compliance officers jointly conducted an operation on local construction sites in Collier County. The purpose of this operation was to verify and enforce the state mandated workers' compensation laws and state and local construction licenses.

The construction sites that were targeted were located at Barefoot Beach on Bonita Beach Road and various sites in downtown Naples. During the two days in Collier County, a total of seven arrests were made, six stop work orders were issued by the Bureau of Compliance and ten citations from Collier County Construction Compliance for not having proper contracting licenses.

The following arrests were made from the operation: Quang Dinh, Ramiro Gonzalez, Pedro Nolasco, William Gilmore, Brian Garner, Christian Florin Patasanu and Freddy Serrano. All individuals were booked into the Collier County Jail.