It seems to be a seasonal thing. In August of last year the Pine Grove Lakes neighborhood of Sloatsburg was plagued by a series of car and home burglaries. The culprits in those acts were later caught carrying petty loot from a house in Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ.

Sloatsburg residents in and around Pine Grove Lakes have been experiencing car burglaries over the past couple of months, with items such as small change and checks and  Apple iTouches reportedly scooped up and gone missing.

Many of the burglaries often went unreported to the Ramapo Police Department due to the petty nature of the activity. Without official reports, the RPD was unable to officially grid the activity and connect the dots. But there is something called the grapevine, which involves news and local talk being passed through channels.

Wednesday morning, local resident and off-duty New York Police Detective Felix Garcia apparently saw something suspicious going on around a car in the Pine Grove neighborhood. Garcia approached two teens near the vehicle and caught them in what appeared to be the act of burglarizing someone’s car. He then took them in custody and held them until the Ramapo Police Department arrived.

The two teens were described as a 17-year-old male and 15-year-old female who live on one of the presidents streets in Sloatsburg.

“Lock your car doors, watch out for suspicious cars or people and watch out for your neighbors,” said Sloatsburg Mayor Carl Wright about the incident.

So, hopefully, the recent spate of burglaries in and around Pine Grove Lakes has ended. Just lock your cars in case.