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7/11/2009 3:30 AM

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By Kathie O. Warco

Staff writer

kwarco@observer-reporter.com

A state police helicopter was in the skies above Route 19 in North Strabane Township Friday evening as local police combed a wooded area looking for one of two West Virginia teenagers suspected of burglarizing a home in Canonsburg earlier in the day.

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The search started about 3 p.m. Friday when Canonsburg police Officer Rob Sumney noticed two teenagers in Canonsburg's Town Park that he did not recognize as being local residents, said Canonsburg deputy police Chief Harold Coleman.

"He saw these two kids and didn't recognize them as being from town so he stopped and talked with them," Coleman said. "He didn't want to spook them as he called for backup, but when they saw Officer Michael Ledger approach in another car, they tried to run."

Sumney was able to grab one of the teenagers, a 14-year-old boy. The other, reportedly a 17-year-old, ran from police into the woods around the park.

"He threw his shirt off and started running toward Woodland Road," Coleman said.

Borough police asked for assistance from the Cecil Township police K-9 unit as well as officers from Chartiers and North Strabane townships and Houston to search the park area.

After searching the park, police received a report the boy was in the area of Garden Street in North Strabane. Police started searching that area about 6 p.m. Friday with the assistance of the state police helicopter.

The search of the wooded area behind Weavertown Woodlands housing development broke off just before 11 p.m. Friday. North Strabane police said they no longer believe the boy is in the area.

Canonsburg police learned after talking with the 14-year-old that the boys may have burglarized a home on East Pitt Street Friday. They are also suspected of breaking into a Cecil Township home.

Police later learned that the boys, reportedly from Hometown, W.Va., about 40 miles northwest of Charleston, may have driven to this area in a stolen car that was found Friday in Peters Township.

On Thursday, police in West Virginia asked police to look for the boys in the area of McDonald's on Bobby Vinton Boulevard after getting a hit from a cellular telephone GPS signal. Coleman said the younger boy's parents were in Canonsburg looking for their son.

The boys likely will face charges filed by borough police once the investigation is completed, Coleman said.

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