Three teenage boys recently broke into about 25 unlocked vehicles in the Willow Street area, West Lampeter Township police said.

Justen Davis, 18, of the 200 block of Lancaster Avenue, Strasburg, and two 16-year-olds allegedly looted parked cars on Wynwood Drive, Woodhall Drive and Willow Valley Drive, Officer Craig Parduski said.

The teens allegedly grabbed about $2,000 worth of items, mostly audio equipment. They struck between 1 and 2 a.m. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, police said.

Police arrested the trio Wednesday night after Parduski and Officer David Covey spotted one of the 16-year-olds standing outside a Laundromat in Willow Street.

"He had a black hoodie on, and we thought he might be one of the suspects. We confronted him and then found the others," said Parduski.

The 16-year-olds are from Willow Street and Millersville. They and Davis probably will be charged with multiple counts of theft-from-vehicle and with criminal conspiracy, West Lampeter police said. Manor Township police also will be questioning them about vehicle break-ins, investigators said .

All the vehicles that the teens allegedly entered were unlocked and parked in driveways or along the streets, police said. The suspects allegedly took compact-disc players, compact discs, DVD players, stereos, satellite radios, a camera, and at least one Sony PlayStation unit.

"They pawned some of the items, but they also hid some of the stuff —!\qin a Dumpster in Millersville and behind a business in Pequea Township," Parduski said.

Earlier Wednesday, West Earl Township police arrested two Manheim men who allegedly stole a cash register from a roadside produce stand along Route 772, near Talmage.

John Aaron Nolt, who owns Nolt's Produce Stand, 388 Glenbrook Road, Leola, told police he saw a person "running away from the business with the cash register" shortly before 6 p.m. Wednesday.

The thief jumped into a 1993 gray Buick in the stand's parking lot. Nolt followed the car, which headed east on Route 772, and called 911, advising dispatchers of its location.

Based on Nolt's information, West Earl police Officer Dale E. Ebersole and Akron police Officer Bill Fasnacht intercepted the fleeing vehicle on North Farmersville Road, near Turtle Hill Road, in West Earl Township.

Gregory S. Welsh, 53, of 37 S. Main St., Manheim, was driving the car. Nickolas B. Stitt, 26, also of 37 S. Main St., Manheim, was a passenger, and was also the person who stole the cash register, police said.

Police found the cash drawer from the stolen register in the car. It contained about $300. The remaining portion of the cash register, which was valued at $300, had been thrown from the car during the flight, police said.

Welsh and Stitt were both charged with theft and criminal conspiracy. Neither could post $5,000 bail set by Manheim Township Magisterial Court Judge David P. Miller, and they were committed to Lancaster County Prison.

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