Press Release

CONTACT: Nina Banister
(850) 413-2832

TALLAHASSEE - The owner of a local pool construction business has been charged with workers' compensation fraud and uttering a forged instrument.

Wilbur Sellars, owner of Pro Pools Inc., surrendered Thursday to the charges and was arrested by investigators with the Department of Financial Services' Division of Insurance Fraud. He was booked into the Leon County Jail, with bond set at $1,000, and could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted on the charges.

The department began investigating Sellars, 56, of 1752 Old Bainbridge Rd., after receiving a telephone call from an insurance agency who had been asked to verify insurance coverage for Pro Pools Inc. The agency said it appeared someone had issued altered insurance certificates. Department investigators said they determined that Sellars had instructed an employee to alter an old insurance certificate and then present the fake certificate to a local homeowner and a business.

This case will be prosecuted in the Second Judicial Circuit.

The Department of Financial Services, Division of Insurance Fraud, investigates various forms of fraud in insurance, including health, life, auto, property and workers' compensation insurance. Anyone with information about this case or another possible fraud scheme should call the department's Fraud Hotline at 1-800-378-0445. A reward of up to $25,000 may be offered for information leading to a conviction.