Their Roles as Victims Turned Real for Santa Ana Couple : Insiders’ view: Lured by the promise of $30,000 for faking accidents, they ended up instead with bills, humiliation--and a police record.

Janice and Ismael had heard that they could make money posing as accident victims. But it wasn’t until the bills came fast and furious and their car was repossessed that they decided to give it a try.

The Santa Ana couple gave a videotaped confession to an insurance company in 1988 as part of a plea-bargain agreement. On a copy of the tape, obtained by The Times, the couple, identified only by their first names, provide an insider’s account of how an Orange County auto insurance fraud ring functioned.

Janice worked in an Orange County convalescent hospital. Ismael was a gas station attendant. They had two children, and together, they earned $11,000 a year.

Janice said they met a man named Ernie when he tried to sell them life insurance. They didn’t buy the insurance because the $36 monthly premium was too high. But a few weeks later, Ernie asked them if they would like to make extra money. He promised them $30,000 a year.

“All we had to do was be passengers in automobile accidents, and that was it,” she told the insurance interviewer on the tape.

“He would tell us what doctor to go to, what lawyer to go to, what to say,” Janice said. “The only thing we had to do was just be there. He said $30,000, at least.”

“What would happen if they hit you too hard?” the interviewer asked. “Could you have been injured?”

“Yes, we could have,” Janice replied. “But we didn’t think about it. All we thought was a way to pay our bills. . . . We were afraid of being caught . . . but more afraid we would be kicked out of our house onto the street.”

Then Ernie decided that it would be easier to invent an accident than to stage one. Ernie coached them on the script. It would be dusk, and they were passengers in the back seat of a car. They would say the light was yellow when the car approached the intersection, but the driver slammed on the brakes when he realized that the car would not clear the crossing before the light turned red. Their car would be struck by the one behind them. Ismael and Janice were to say they had neck and back pain.

“He just made it all up,” Janice said. “The people were real, but there were no cars.”

Nevertheless, they were told to memorize the make of the car and the license plate numbers.

According to Janice, Ernie believed that “insurance companies were nothing but rip-offs and the money they had was from ripping off people who couldn’t afford insurance. He said they had the money to spare.”

Ernie sent the couple first to a doctor in Santa Ana and then to another clinic in Cerritos, where they complained of pain and were X-rayed. Ismael said he was told to lose weight and given massage treatments. Janice, who was given heat treatments, said she noticed that other people “were signing in on their lunch hour and splitting.”

Ernie told them that “the longer you go (to the clinic), the more money you’ll get,” Janice said. They went 15 times, and ended up with $2,535 worth of bills.

The couple were caught after insurance adjusters became suspicious of the claim filed by their attorney and began investigating. Ultimately, Janice and Ismael pleaded guilty to insurance fraud in North Orange County Superior Court, and were granted probation, according to the tape.

“It was easy to get involved,” Janice said, in tears. “I was promised $30,000, but got nothing. It cost us lots of embarrassment and humiliation and a record that will follow us wherever we go.”