Multi-month Royal Oak car thefts lead to the arrest of a 14-year-old

ROYAL OAK, Mich. (FOX 2) - A string of Royal Oak car thefts led to the arrest of a 14-year-old, who now sits behind bars.

What they're saying:

Police say the thefts date back to January as the latest in a bundle of crimes committed by teens in just two months.

Officials have been investigating these crimes separately since January, but in a twist of events, they soon learned they were all connected.

A week prior, a car was reported stolen, then, a couple of days later, a second, and on Tuesday, a third.

Dig deeper:

Lt. Richard Millard shared many photos with Fox 2 of one of the stolen cars, a Kia with the steering column pulled apart. He says the 14-year-old behind the crimes was caught on camera wearing a mask and returning to the stolen car.

"Proactive officers really dug through the neighborhood and they found the car just a few blocks away, tucked behind an apartment building up against the wall," Millard said. "We suspected that he might come back to the car, and we just put together a very smooth operation to take him into custody, ensuring that he wasn’t going to get in the car and drive the car and try to flee from officers."

Officials say that is exactly what happened in February, when a 16-year-old allegedly stole a car from a 7/11 that led to a police chase before losing control and crashing into two cars.

"I think they learn a lot on YouTube. Maybe learned from other people doing the same thing," Millard said. "This kid would have kept doing what he was doing until he got caught. It can lead to other things that are even more serious, and people get hurt. It happens a lot."

What's next:

The 14-year-old is facing several counts of felony charges, including three counts of unlawful driving away from a motor vehicle.

Those charges carry a five-year max prison sentence.