By William Wan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 9, 2007

The case of the missing candy bars has been solved, Anne Arundel County police announced yesterday.

And all it took was a dog with a nose for crime and a helpful trail of candy wrappers leading from the burglarized gas station to the suspects.

For weeks, petty thefts were occurring in the area, nickel-and-dime stuff, said Stewart Powers, owner of the BP station in the 8500 block of Fort Smallwood Road in Pasadena.

Then early yesterday, his business was hit.

At 1:35 a.m., someone broke in through a wood panel over the gas station's front door. What the intruders didn't count on, apparently, was the burglar alarm that tipped off Powers and police.

Minutes later, when officers arrived, they found a ransacked lobby with racks of missing candy, cigars and chips.

That's when authorities called in the experts: Officer Paul White and his dog, Castor.

Picking up a scent, Castor led officers to a trail of chocolatey wrappers along Cottage Grove Drive. After less than a quarter-mile, the trail and the dog took a sudden left turn onto Kim Marie Court, where police found four surprised teenagers sitting on the back deck of a house.

All around them lay empty bags of chips and candy wrappers.

"We get break-ins, but we don't always get trails of candy wrappers," said Cpl. Mark Shawkey, a police spokesman. "That didn't hurt things at all."

The teens, a boy, 16, and two boys and a girl, each 15 -- were arrested and charged with second-degree burglary and theft of under $500.

"I don't know what they're teaching these kids these days," Powers said.