By Lindsey Erin Kroskob
Wyoming Tribune-Eagle
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — It’s all in the tracks.
And two young alleged car burglars were nabbed Sunday morning after they didn’t cover theirs.
A Cheyenne police patrol sergeant was making his regular rounds around the Dell Range Boulevard area at 4:15 a.m. Sunday when he noticed a male standing suspiciously near a vehicle in the parking lot of Mingles Lounge at 1618 Stillwater Ave.
When he turned his patrol car around and returned to the area, the young man was gone.
But he and a friend left two distinct sets of tracks in the fresh snow.
The officers followed them to another vehicle at Global Spas and Stoves a couple blocks away at 1639 Dell Range Blvd.
As the hunt continued, they followed the tracks back to Shari’s Restaurant, 1947 Dell Range Blvd., where they spotted two young men standing outside.
The juveniles went in the restaurant and climbed in a booth.
When they were first confronted, the 17-year-olds denied any part on the burglaries. But when the officers matched their shoe treads to the prints in the snow, they recanted.
“They literally followed these prints to every car they went to on that side of town and then back to Shari’s,” police department spokesman Sgt. Rob Dafoe said.
When they searched the teens, the officers found multiple GPS units, cables, sunglasses and women’s cosmetics.
Dafoe said the boys broke into three vehicles: a Volkswagon at the Global Spas location, a vehicle in the Avenues and one in the 1200 block of Hoy Road.
All of the stolen items were returned to their owners. None of the cars showed signs of forced entry, Dafoe said, indicating that they were unlocked.
The juveniles were arrested for felony burglary and minors in possession of alcohol. They also were cited for being out past curfew.
One of the young men also was charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana.
“This is one of the reasons that we have curfew laws,” Dafoe said. “There is nothing good that can happen after a juvenile is supposed to be at home.”
Copyright 2011 Cheyenne Newspapers, Inc.