Former MLB shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt faces prison charges after alleged insurance fraud scheme

Former MLB player Yuniesky Betancourt, who played for just under a decade in the big leagues, is facing a decade in prison now.

He was recently arrested in Miami on a laundry list of charges, including staged accident, insurance fraud, organized scheme to defraud and grand theft. If he's convicted, he could see 10 years as a maximum sentence.

The former MLB shortstop wasn't the only person named in this arrest, though. Abel Vera, Nancy Mercedes Pena Yuniesky Betancourt and Maura Perez were all named as conspirators.

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Yuniesky Betancourt, three others charged with fraud in accident scheme

The four who stand charged allegedly staged an automobile accident and filed a falsely documented police report for it in an attempt to scam some insurance money.

Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis said via My Florida CFO:

"It doesn’t matter how clever you think your scheme may be, if you commit fraud in Florida, you will be caught and brought to justice. Staging accidents is incredibly dangerous and fraud like this costs every Floridian in the form of higher auto insurance premiums. We must continue to work together to do everything we can to uncover these fraud schemes and bring these scam artists to justice."

Evidence collected by a Fraud Detective, including an accident reconstruction and data gathered from the vehicle Event Data Recorder, confirmed that the accident never occurred as the conspirators had reported it.

Yuniesky Betancourt has been arrested

After the alleged crash, all four of the charged people purportedly looked for physical therapy and other treatment for injuries they claimed to have sustained but never did. Kemper Insurance was charged over $61,000 and paid $22,800 for therapy that no "victim" was entitled to.

Each conspirator, including Yuniesky Betancourt, was arrested on Apr. 12 and was booked into jail. They all face the same charges and will see the same sentence if they are convicted.

Betancourt spent most of his nine seasons with the Seattle Mariners. He also spent time with the Kansas City Royals and the Milwaukee Brewers, the latter of which he came to in the Zack Greinke blockbuster trade.