Three local teenagers are facing multiple charges stemming from what authorities are describing as a month-and-a-half-long crime spree that caused roughly $5,000 in damages.

According to police, the trio – a 16-year-old from Windham and two 15-year-olds from Salem – was responsible for damaging several lawns as well as the thefts of about 30 street signs and the destruction of more than 30 mailboxes in town between May and June. Officers took the three youths into custody on June 27 after a resident on Flintlock Road reported a group of “kids” acting suspiciously and going from home to home ringing doorbells at about 2 a.m., police said.

Capt. Shawn Patten said officers arriving on the scene investigated and were able to determine that the group of teenagers was behind the string of crimes. He described it as a great piece of police work on the part of the officers.

“(The teenagers) were just out at 1 or 2 a.m. and they were doing things they shouldn’t be doing. We found them and located their vehicle and the officers did a phenomenal job with nothing. Just knowing we had a crime wave going on the officers pushed them to uncover the fact that they were responsible,” he said. “Through the investigation and those guys being out and the other information that we’d received, we were able to piece it together and determine that they were behind it all.”

According to Patten, the department was able to recover four of the stolen street signs from one of the teens, but have been unable to locate the rest. He said the teenagers had allegedly ditched the bulk of the signs in a location only they knew about, but authorities were working with them to recover the remaining street markers.

Department of Public Works Director Rick Russell said he was ecstatic upon learning the three alleged thieves had been caught. Manufacturing almost 30 replacement street signs had cost his department more than $4,000 in the cost of materials and labor.

“I don’t have the people to make signs all day and that’s what it took,” Russell said. “It takes time to make the signs up. We’re down three positions and I literally don’t have the people to devote just making signs for a two-week period.”

Though a few signs go missing from year to year – some, like Easy Street, are more popular than others – Russell said he knew something was different was going on when five street signs disappeared in a single night in mid-June.

More than anything else, Russell said he was concerned that public safety could have been affected by the missing signs.

“I’ve been in town for 30- plus years, and I can’t remember all the streets off the top of my head. When seconds count it’s a big thing. I hate to see it happen to the kids, but hopefully they learn the lesson and other people learn the lesson. It’s expensive and dangerous to steal street signs,” Russell said. “The kids think it’s a prank and I feel bad for the kids if they’ve ended up with a criminal record for something as stupid as that. If they ever really stopped to think about it, ‘What if it was a friend or a relative with a heart attack and the fire department couldn’t get there,’ they wouldn’t do it.”

Police have charged the 16- year-old with being an accomplice to theft, an accomplice to criminal mischief and criminal mischief. The two 15-yearolds have been charged with theft and criminal mischief.

All three will be appearing in juvenile court within the next several weeks, according to officials.