2 More Jailed in Alleged Staging of Fatal Crash : Investigations: Authorities say the pair could eventually be charged with being accomplices to murder. They are suspected of scheming to collect insurance.

Two people who were passengers of an auto crushed by a car-carrier truck on the Golden State Freeway in Sun Valley were arrested Friday on suspicion of insurance fraud because authorities believe that they were involved in a scheme to collect insurance money by deliberately causing the crash.

Rubidia Lopez, 28, of Los Angeles and Isiais Aguilar-Martinez, 24, of Los Angeles were arrested in connection with the Wednesday night crash that left one person dead, California Highway Patrol spokesman Richard Obregon said. Jorge Sanchez, the driver, was arrested Thursday, also on suspicion of insurance fraud, he said.

Authorities suspect Sanchez, 29, a Los Angeles resident, of causing the car-carrier to jackknife and overturn onto his own car to collect insurance money, Obregon said. Witnesses told investigators that Sanchez was swerving and braking erratically before the accident, he said.

CHP investigators will decide within two weeks whether to recommend to the district attorney’s office that Sanchez be charged with the murder of a passenger in his car, Obregon said. Jose Perez, 29, of Sepulveda was killed in the accident, the coroner’s office said. Under California law, any death caused by commission of a crime can be prosecuted as a murder, even the deaths of companions or accomplices.

If a murder charge is brought against Sanchez, Obregon said, Lopez and Aguilar-Martinez could be charged as accomplices to murder. Bail for the three was set at $500,000 each, he said.

The crash appears to be similar to a series of five staged accidents in the past two months on the same stretch of the Golden State Freeway, Obregon said. But investigators do not believe that the driver and passengers involved in Wednesday’s accident were involved in any of the previous collisions, he said.

In four of the five previous crashes, big trucks were involved, most likely because such trucks are usually fully insured, Obregon said.

“It is ironic that they’re willing to put their life on the line to make some money in this manner,” Obregon said. “A car can do damage, but a truck can do even more.”

The big truck, loaded with a dozen cars, had been following Sanchez north on the Golden State Freeway just south of the Branford Street exit shortly before 7 p.m. when Sanchez apparently began weaving across lanes, speeding up and slowing down, Obregon said. The truck driver tried to get away from Sanchez’s car by passing it, but Sanchez apparently swerved into his path, causing the truck to jackknife and overturn onto his car, he said.

The CHP estimates that as many as 30 accidents each month in Los Angeles County are staged to gain insurance money, he said. The Sun Valley accident is unusual, however, because somebody was killed, which might set a precedent if the case goes to court, he said.

“We find some of the people involved in these accidents are from low-income areas and more often than not, they’re paid to take a seat in the car,” Obregon said. “I don’t think a lot of them realize what is involved,” he said.