Auburn Police officers responded to vehicle prowl reports late on Jan. 22 or early on Jan. 23 in the Lakeland Hills area.

From some vehicles, the prowler or prowlers had swiped garage door openers.

Fortunately, it looks like one thief got a bit too greedy or too impatient for gain for his own nefarious good.

Whatever it was, when the suspect returned to Lakeland Hills the next night to exploit his ill-gotten finds, police were poised to pounce, and pounce they did, on a guy in a stolen vehicle with all sorts of incriminating things on him.

“The suspect had debit cards and other property on his person that we are able to tie to multiple victims and past criminal offenses,” Police wrote on the department’s Facebook page.

Police added that if they should find items they could link to specific victims, an officer would be in touch.

“If an opener was taken, please take action to change the code immediately. If you see your neighbors garage door open, please try and contact them to see if the door is open on purpose,” police wrote.

“This is a job well done by your officers, and we want to thank the citizens who took the time to make reports so that we could properly respond to the area,” police wrote.

Police advise residents to be vigilant in watching out for themselves and their neighbors, to keep the porch lights on, lock the doors, and use officers to come meet anyone who appears to be acting in a shady manner.

Victims may report incidents online at auburnwa.gov, and if they see a suspicious person/circumstance they should call 911.

If an incident happened prior and there is no active situation, victims should call the non-emergency line at 253-288-2121.