PANHANDLE REGION

The Panhandle Region comprises two field offices and two squads, located in Tallahassee and Pensacola. Both squads investigate a wide variety of crimes involving insurance fraud. The region covers Bay, Calhoun, Escambia, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Lafayette, Leon, Liberty, Madison, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Taylor, Wakulla, Walton, and Washington Counties.

Panhandle Region Commander
Captain Robert Brongel

Captain Brongel was hired by the Division in 2008 as a captain and tasked with obtaining accreditation, which was achieved in 2009. Prior to joining the Division of Insurance Fraud, Captain Brongel served 32 years with the Sarasota Sheriff’s Office, retiring as a lieutenant. While at Sarasota SO, he served in uniformed patrol, as a detective sergeant in the crimes against property and crimes against persons units, supervisor of the vice and intelligence units, supervisor of the street crimes unit, member of the SWAT team and commander of the hostage team. He was later assigned as watch commander and assistant bureau commander in the administrative and support divisions, having oversight of personnel, hiring, records, evidence, policy development and special projects. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy (198th Session) and FEMA’s Integrated Emergency Management Academy at Mount Weather, Virginia. He has been involved in accreditation in Florida since 1992. Captain Brongel has taught at the Division investigators’ academy and supervisors’ academy and is a former field instructor for Northwestern University. He is a current staff instructor for the Sarasota Criminal Justice Academy.

Lieutenant Joe Holokan

Lt. Holokan started his law enforcement career in 2000 with the Department of Environmental Protection, Bureau of Park Police, where he served as a patrol officer and later as a master patrol officer. Lt. Holokan transferred to Florida Fish and Wildlife, where he was a patrol officer primarily in the Marine Unit.

In November, 2005, Lt. Holokan became a financial investigator with the Office of Financial Regulation, Bureau of Financial Investigations. Lt. Holokan transferred to the Division of Insurance Fraud in November 2006, where he was assigned as a regular fraud detective in the Pensacola Field Office, and then as a workers' compensation detective in February 2008. In June 2008, he was promoted to lieutenant over the Ft. Myers Field Office and in 2010 transferred to Pensacola to oversee the Tallahassee and Pensacola Field Offices.

Panhandle Statistics

Regional statistics for this fiscal year through first quarter 2012: the detectives completed 66 presentations for prosecution, 66 arrests. In addition, the squad obtained 44 convictions resulting in $346,319.57 in court ordered restitution and $28,371.57 in court ordered investigative costs.

Panhandle Case Highlights

• Federal fugitive, Charles Leon Parker, 69, of Madison, was arrested in April during an insurance fraud investigation. Parker, a fugitive since 1983, is an alleged sexual predator wanted in Douglas County, Ga. for three counts of child molestation and two counts of incest. A description of the investigation into Parker for sexual molestation was aired on the popular television show “America’s Most Wanted” in March 2006.
  
  During an investigation regarding a suspicious home fire claim filed by Parker’s wife, Rose Healan, with Gulfstream Insurance Company, investigators attempted to make contact with R.M. Healan for questioning related to a homeowner’s insurance fraud investigation.
  
  Healan arrived home as detectives approached his residence and the Madison County Sheriff’s Office conducted a routine vehicle stop. When Healan failed to provide deputies proper identification, he was arrested for driving without a license. A fingerprint check later revealed his true identity to be Charles Leon Parker, a federal fugitive wanted by the U.S. Marshal’s Office for the past 29 years.
  
  Parker was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshal’s Service. The Division of Insurance Fraud has also filed additional 2nd Degree Felony insurance fraud charges against Parker and his wife, Rose Healan.

• A Santa Rosa County construction company president was arrested on charges of falsifying payroll information to avoid workers’ compensation premiums. Randall Morton Seltzer, 43, president of Navarre Industries Inc., was charged with multiple felony counts, including workers’ compensation fraud and grand theft.
  
  The investigation revealed that Seltzer intentionally and systematically under-reported his corporation’s true payroll to his insurance carrier, Guarantee Insurance Company. The fraud investigation was based on a referral from the department’s Division of Workers’ Compensation, which issued the company two stop work orders within a five-year period.
  Seltzer allegedly established a shell corporation in 2011 under the name Hip Roof & Valley Inc. to intentionally violate the stop work orders and continue operating his construction business illegally. Seltzer was booked into the Santa Rosa County Jail and is awaiting bond. If convicted, he could face up to 30 years in prison and be forced to pay over $2.8 million in restitution.