LAWRENCE — Two insurance companies refused to pay the medical bills for five people who reported being injured in a two-car accident in the city more than six years ago.

Arbella Mutual Insurance Company suspected someone was trying to con them when two brothers, both named Jose Villa, said they were passengers in one car that crashed, but couldn't get their stories straight. Encompass, the insurer of the other car in the crash, suspected something was phony too.

It took police a long time to determine both insurers had cause to be suspicious. But in the end, eight people, all from Lawrence, were arrested over the last couple of weeks after two passengers and the driver, who feigned injury, admitted to Auto Insurance Fraud Task Force investigators that the accident never happened.

Each of them faces jail time, if convicted. "Justice has a long memory," said Lawrence police Chief John Romero.

"Even though they didn't get any money, they never expected to get arrested. They thought the worst thing that could happen to them — the claim would be denied. But it wasn't the worst thing to happen to them. This should be a message to other people still out there, thinking that too much time has passed for a crime like this to catch up with them," he said.

Arrests made in connection with the March 30, 2002, "paper accident" bring to 324 the number of individuals charged with auto insurance fraud in the city's 41/2-year crackdown. The Task Force consists of a handful of police detectives working with investigators of the Insurance Fraud Bureau of Massachusetts. Romero assembled the special unit after a 65-year-old great-grandmother died in a staged car crash that police said she helped plan to scam insurance companies.

It took six years and 31/2 months for criminal charges to be filed in the latest case — the longest it's taken to crack any of the cases.

Although there is a six-year statute of limitations to file criminal charges, investigators said that time hasn't expired yet because it took several months after the crash for the alleged conspirators to file their bogus insurance claims — which constitute the fraudulent act.

"This was your basic 101 auto fraud back then — an accident that never happened, except on paper," Romero said. "A lot of those cases made it through without anyone getting caught. But this one didn't because the insurance companies were onto it early and denied all of the claims."

Charged with auto insurance fraud were:

Jose Oliveras, 47, 113 Walnut St. He claimed to be driving his 1988 Toyota Camry on Willows Street when he hit another car. He remains at large.

Jose M. Villa, 32, 182 S. Union St. He was listed as a passenger in Oliveras' car. His medical claim was denied.

Jose G. Villa, 24, 2 Inman St., Unit 14. He was listed as a passenger in Oliveras' car, but he later said he was recruited by a "runner" who told him he could make some money by participating in the scam. His medical claim was denied.

Jose Francisco, 44, 365 Hampshire St., Unit 3. He claimed to be the driver of the 1989 Toyota Corolla that was hit. He later said he wasn't in the accident, but signed his name to an accident report. Previously, the Task Force had arrested him in connection with two other staged accidents involving U-Haul trucks.

Luisa Vasquez, 43, 215 Park St., Unit 3. She owned the Toyota Corolla and was charged with allowing it to be used as part of the scam.

Teresa Javier, 30, 33 Perry Ave. She was listed as a passenger in the Corolla. She later said she received treatment for fake injuries and was never involved in an accident. She is Francisco's niece. Her medical claim was denied.

Modesto Castillo, 46, 51 Bromfield St., Unit 1. He was listed as a passenger in the Corolla. His medical claim was denied.

Eddy Vasquez, 35, 51 Bromfield St. He was listed as a passenger in the Corolla. His medical claim was denied.

"The red flags for this case were one of the lawyers and the chiropractor involved," said Detective Sgt. Michael Simard, the Police Department's lead investigator on the task force.

"Participants sought treatment at three Alan Cohen clinics, and attorney Socrates De La Cruz initially represented two of the claimants," he said.

Cohen, once the state's top-billing chiropractor, went to jail several years ago after admitting to his involvement in auto insurance fraud. De La Cruz was one of eight people indicted on auto insurance fraud charges in April as part of a grand jury investigation initiated by the state attorney general's office.