Quick thinking by a neighbor helped catch a burglar in Andalusia Monday.

Sgt. Jody Scott with the Andalusia Police Department said a 17-year-old boy is in police custody after a concerned citizen called the APD to describe the teen entering the Carson Street home just before lunch.

“The citizen stated he’d seen the black male enter the home, and that he knew the elderly woman who lived there was not at home at the time,” Scott said of the good Samaritan.

Scott said patrol units were dispatched to find the teen.

“The citizen walked over to the house and could see the male going through the cabinets in the house, so he contacted police again,” Scott said.

It was then that the teen left the house and was confronted by the citizen caller.

“At which point, the suspect ran toward the area of Beasley Street and was found by Officer Mike Abraham, hiding in a laundry room of a residence there,” Scott said. “(The teen) had attempted to change clothes in the laundry room.”

Scott said the suspect’s clothes, as well as the jewelry he’d allegedly taken from the Carson Street home, was recovered.

The teen was charged with burglary III and theft of property I and transported to the state detention center in Dothan.