By Pat Culverhouse

Three Minden juveniles have been arrested after an early Friday morning vandalism spree through local neighborhoods evolved into a business burglary.

Minden Chief of Police Jared McIver said the trio of 14-year-olds began knocking over mailboxes and trash cans, damaging street signs and ringing doorbells at residences in the Claiborne Ave., Beech and Hinton St. areas sometime after 2 a.m. That activity escalated when the group reportedly threw an object through a glass door and entered the Subway restaurant.

“Surveillance video showed one of the juveniles throwing a brick through the glass door of Subway and entering the premises,” McIver said. “Once inside, he and others began taking chips and drinks.”

McIver said detectives were able to quickly pick up the teens when the image of one suspect was captured on a homeowner’s surveillance camera.

“A door cam caught one of them ringing the doorbell and running away,” McIver said. “With the assistance of a social media site, we obtained positive identification that led to the arrest of all three.”

Detectives learned the teens were supposed to be spending the night at one’s residence, but managed to sneak out sometime around midnight. McIver said the trio was arrested only a short time after the incidents, charged and released to the custody of their parents.

This information has been provided by a law enforcement agency as public information. Persons named as suspects in a criminal investigation, or arrested and charged with a crime, have not been convicted of any criminal offense and are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.