SUNBURY — City police on Thursday charged four teens with stealing numerous bicycles and from cars in recent weeks in Sunbury, Northumberland, and Upper Augusta Township, and said the suspects may have crossed the line when they took bicycles belonging to youths living at a local homeless shelter.
After the crime at the Haven Ministry on Front Street in Sunbury, police formed an ad hoc task force that "worked relentlessly around the clock since the tragic Haven Ministry theft," police said in a statement Thursday.
The teens, 18-year-old Matthew Hollister and three juveniles, were arrested Thursday morning.
Police received numerous tips and recovered many more bikes than had been reported stolen after learning that four bicycles were taken from Haven Ministry.
City police described the theft of bicycles at Haven Ministry as "heinous," but said it was just one of several similar incidents that included car thefts "” which the teens described as "car-hopping."
Hollister was brought to the city police station in handcuffs, while the other three, all juveniles, surrendered.
Cathy Teischer, director of Haven Ministry, was waiting in front of the police station as the four arrived around 11 a.m. Thursday.
"This has been a good lesson for the kids" (whose bikes were taken), she said. "There are some real creeps out there, but there are also good people."
Teischer said the outpouring of donations from the community, including new bikes and locks, has been heartening. In fact, she said, she received on Thursday a message from a Valley man serving in Iraq that included $100 Walmart gift cards for the four children whose bikes were taken.
"This shows the kids that if you talk to the police, and you tell them the truth, they can help you," Teischer said.
Jaime Quinn, a Sunbury police officer, said the theft of bikes from homeless shelter had brought numerous calls from residents about abandoned bikes, but none of the bikes recovered were the ones stolen from Haven Ministry.
Sunbury police said the other three juveniles, a 17-year-old and two 14-year olds, along with Hollister, have been involved with a number of bicycle thefts and thefts from motor vehicles in Sunbury, Northumberland, and Upper Augusta Township over the past several months.
Hollister was charged with theft by unlawful taking, defiant trespass and receiving stolen property.
The 17-year-old was charged as an adult with theft by unlawful taking, defiant trespass, receiving stolen property, burglary, criminal trespass and theft from a motor vehicle.
Both 14-year-olds were charged with theft by unlawful taking, defiant trespass, receiving stolen property. One 14-year-old also was charged with burglary, criminal trespass and theft from a motor vehicle.
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