LAWRENCE — Police Officer Eli Bernabe thought it odd that a Lawrence woman was more concerned about the thief who was arrested last Oct. 16 on charges of stealing and stripping her 1999 Ford Expedition than the damage done to the vehicle.

Bernabe wrote in her report that Arelis Villa never asked any questions about her car, but wanted to know what was going to happen to 27-year-old Sergio Estrada.

While at the police station to file a stolen car report, Villa denied knowing Estrada when shown a police arrest photo of him. She also told an investigator for Safety Insurance that she didn't know the man, who investigators for the city's auto insurance fraud task force later learned was her nephew.

Tuesday, Villa, 35, of 19 Short St., was arrested at work by Detective Ryan Guthrie, a task force member assigned to the investigation. Villa was charged with auto insurance fraud, attempted larceny and intentionally filing a false crime report.

"The fact she seemed more concerned about the welfare of the individual arrested for stealing the car and damaging it definitely raised our suspicions," Lawrence police Chief John Romero said yesterday.

"When we were able to make the definite connection between her and the individual charged, she was subsequently arrested," Romero said.

Villa's arrest brings to 325 the number of individuals charged with auto insurance fraud in the city's four-and-a-half-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.

Estrada was previously arrested on charges of receiving a stolen motor vehicle, taking a motor vehicle without authority and stealing parts, possession of burglary tools, and breaking and entering in the nighttime with intent to commit a felony. Officer Bernabe noticed on his booking sheet that his mother's last name was "Villa" — the same as the victim. The charges are still pending.

Police found the Ford Expedition at 97 Exchange St. after receiving a report of a car break in progress. A witness, who saw two men take parts from the car, gave Bernabe a partial plate number for the "getaway vehicle." She noticed the window of the Expedition smashed, the ignition popped and the dashboard stripped of the radio and air bags.

Police tracked down a car that belonged to Estrada, who gave them permission to search it. "You got me," police said he told them after they found an air bag stolen from Villa's car inside.

Villa filed a stolen car report on Oct. 16, indicating that her Ford Expedition had been taken sometime the previous day. She later filed a claim with her insurance company, Safety Insurance.

An insurance investigator determined that Villa's car failed an emissions test two days before it was reported stolen. A forensics examination of the car's steering column and ignition lock determined they received only superficial damage and were not compromised. That inspection concluded that only a key would be able to start the car. Villa had said she was in possession of both sets of keys.

Villa also told the investigator that her car had some problems, but they were corrected after the car's inspection. When told the inspection rejection sticker was still on the car when it was recovered, Villa said she never took the car back to get reinspected after the problems were fixed.

In January, Safety Insurance denied Villa's claim for nearly $7,000 in damages after she failed to show up twice for an examination under oath by Smith & Brink in Danvers, the company's attorneys.

The Police Department notified the task force of Officer Bernabe's observations of Villa's suspicious behavior. At the task force's request, Safety referred its claim file to the Insurance Fraud Bureau for investigation.

Once the task force began its investigation, Guthrie discovered that Villa and Estrada once shared a common address at 58 Bennington St.