Miami Herald (MH) - Thursday, May 7, 1998
Ana Acle; Herald Staff Writer

In 1996 he received the Quality of Life Winner award by the Million Dollar Roundtable Foundation. He serves on the board of Jewish Vocational Services and on a professional advisory committee for the insurance industry. He works out of a Brickell Avenue office.

But Wednesday, Plotka gained a different sort of notoriety: He became the first agent arrested in Miami-Dade County on charges of insurance fraud solicited through the Internet.

The Florida Department of Insurance said he solicited clients with the AIDS virus and instructed them to falsify insurance applications so they would be accepted. State authorities arrested Plotka minutes before he was to tee off at a charity golf tournament at Don Shula's Golf Club in Miami Lakes.

"This is a particularly onerous case because this individual is a highly regarded individual in his field," Shapiro said. "He sits on an ethics committee."

Plotka, 45, of Kendall, was charged with one count each of insurance claims fraud, filing a fraudulent application for insurance, second-degree grand theft, criminal solicitation and communications fraud. If convicted on all charges, he could face a maximum prison term of 30 years.

Plotka could not be reached for comment Wednesday. A message left on an answering machine at work was not returned; his home phone number is unlisted.

Authorities will search his records for HIV-positive clients who have falsified applications. They, too, could be charged with fraud. No one knows how many clients or insurance companies may be affected.

Officers also are searching for crooked insurance agents.

"Our investigation will not stop with Mr. Plotka," Dade Assistant State Attorney Mark Shapiro said. "As a result of more information received, we have reason to believe that other agents are engaged in this kind of conduct."

Plotka, an independent insurance agent, is a chartered life underwriter, one of the highest accreditations in the insurance field, and has received awards for national sales achievement.

The investigation began after Plotka distributed brochures at an AIDS seminar.

"If you are HIV positive, you probably think you can't purchase life insurance. Now you can," the brochures read.

But a Kansas man who took the brochure and called Plotka became offended when Plotka allegedly told him to falsify the application. The unidentified man called the Kansas Department of Insurance, which notified the Florida agency.

An undercover officer with the Florida Department of Insurance's fraud division posed as an HIV-positive client and sent e-mail messages to Plotka after finding his web site. The officer met Plotka and recorded him.

Authorities said the agent instructed the undercover officer to check "No" on questions relating to the immune deficiency disorder and smoking. Then, he told clients to list a doctor who would not be privy to knowing if he had HIV. The $50,000 term life insurance policy from the College Life Insurance Company of America in Austin did not require a physical examination.

State authorities obtained the completed application from the Texas insurance company. Authorities say the insurance company was victimized.

"Our investigation will see what other companies he may have used also," said Lt. Bill Santner of the Department of Insurance.

People with HIV often find it nearly impossible to obtain insurance. A California company recently began issuing insurance to clients with HIV, but the premiums are high, Santner said.

"It appears Plotka would offer that one, and if they didn't meet the criteria or couldn't afford it, he'd offer this alternative approach," Santner said. "The alternative approach being, `We just won't tell them.'"

Said Shapiro: "I can empathize with persons in that situation, but it doesn't make it right. I'm no fan of insurance companies, but I'm no fan of fraud, either."

In the long run, everyone pays for fraud, Shapiro said, because companies increase insurance premiums to cover their losses. And the person who was supposed to have coverage may find himself at a loss, Shapiro said.

Officers tried to set another appointment with Plotka to arrest him, but Plotka had other engagements. They tracked him to a charity golf tournament benefiting Jewish Vocational Services, a nonprofit organization that provides vocational rehabilitation to the homeless, the hearing impaired, the developmentally disabled and the physically challenged. Plotka, a member of the board, has chaired the fund-raiser, titled Par Excellence, in the past.

He had just loaded his golf cart.

"It wasn't that we wanted to wreck anybody's golf game," Santner said.
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