THOMASVILLE — Auto crimes that started back in July and have gone on in August have now been connected to a group of juveniles. 

Six juveniles have been sent to the regional youth detention center and are facing an array of charges, including entering autos, stolen vehicles and possession of a firearm, according to authorities. 

The identification of the suspects became clear after two of them were caught stealing a Ford F-150 truck off Remington Avenue. 

“Two of the juveniles were caught inside the vehicle and that started to open up the gateway of connecting a lot of these cases together,” said Lt. Toby Knifer, Thomasville Police Department Criminal Investigations Division commander. 

North Crawford Street, West Jerger Street and East Jefferson Street are some of the other locations where the spree of auto crimes occurred. 

Some stolen vehicles were recovered from the Sixth Avenue area where the juveniles lived.  

“In some of these incidents, there were several cars in the neighborhood that were entered all in one report,” Knifer said. “To this day, we have more cases coming in that we’re able to connect to them.”

Knifer said some of the juveniles were reported as runaways during the spree of crimes. 

As of now the six suspects are not associated with the other entering autos under investigation in “Bird City,” a neighborhood where the streets are named after birds.

Knifer said he hopes residents realize the dangers of leaving vehicles unlocked, considering how many auto crimes the juveniles committed.

“Keeping them off the street obviously is going to bring the crime level down, but also I hope it brings attention to more people to lock their vehicle and take personal property out of there if you don’t want it stolen,” he said. “We have zero cases where a car was forcefully entered.”