Chris Ortega claims he and other "runners" could make $300 for picking up patients from crashes that never happened and driving them in his van to Haverhill Family Chiropractic. After getting paid in cash by Dr. Troy Wheelwright, he said the clinic owner would ask questions about the accident report and instruct him to make sure the crash participants knew where they were "injured."

Later, he might drive the clients to the Andover law offices of Berger & Hyde. There, he would be paid $200 by attorney James Hyde, who would review the accident reports that Ortega brought. Hyde would remind him that runners who set up the accidents were responsible for "coaching" the accident participants so they knew what to say.

Those are the allegations made by Ortega in a document filed this week in Salem Superior Court outlining the state attorney general's case against two area lawyers and two area chiropractors who were recently indicted by a grand jury investigating auto insurance fraud.

But Ortega claims he and other runners also did business with the lawyer and chiropractor handling the passengers involved in the other car of a two-car accident. He and other witnesses quoted in the attorney general's statement identified the other professionals involved as Lawrence attorney Socrates De La Cruz and North Andover chiropractor Michael Kaplan. The four professionals often worked in tandem on two-car crashes investigated by the Lawrence auto insurance fraud task force.

Ortega noted that Kaplan had his own guidelines pertaining to the accidents: His rate was $250 apiece. He didn't want more than three people in any accident vehicle. He also instructed runners to avoid certain insurance companies because their accident investigators tended to be more thorough than other insurers. Kaplan also wanted to know whether the cars involved in the accident were damaged and if the participants knew where their "injuries" were and where they were sitting in the car.

De La Cruz, who paid $150 apiece for clients, was "very selective and cautious" about the clients he wanted, preferring not to have too many people in an accident vehicle, according to the court document. Ortega said the attorney paid him $150 for each referral.

Another witness told fraud investigators that De La Cruz gave him an accident report and told him to "memorize it" and then seek treatment at Haverhill Family Chiropractic. But De La Cruz also paired up with Kaplan Chiropractic at 200 Sutton St. in North Andover on some crashes.

One runner said he overheard Kaplan referring clients to Wheelwright and to not bring all of his referrals to the same lawyer. Wheelwright worked with Kaplan before opening up Haverhill Family Chiropractic.

Not all the runners were paid in cash. Among the evidence gathered by the attorney general's office are numerous checks payable by Berger & Hyde and signed by Hyde to several runners.