Two suspects in a series of recent burglaries may have been betrayed by one of the very items they are accused of stealing -- a cellular phone.

Salem police Detective Mike Crawley said that on Dec. 1 a woman who lives in the 1700 block of Ellis Court put her pocketbook near the sliding glass door in her kitchen. In the time it took her to take a shower, she told police, it vanished.

"She came back and it was gone," Crawley said.

That purse, however, contained her cellphone.

Using GPS and a special feature most commonly used by parents to find their phone-equipped children, Crawley said they pinpointed the phone's location at a residence about 40 yards away, in the 1900 block of Captain Drive. There they arrested two men who are suspected in a string of crimes that began Nov. 22.

"A search of the house produced that phone and some other items that connected them [the men] to all the other vehicle larcenies," Crawley said.

In addition to the Ellis Court theft, vehicle burglaries were also reported on Captain Drive and Kessler Mill Road. Crawley said at least four cars have been hit, but the investigation is not yet concluded.

Joshua Ryan Jones, 21, of Captain Drive and Alexander Ramsey, 20, of the 1800 block of Pexton Avenue were charged with residential burglary, grand larceny, property damage, multiple counts of grand larceny from vehicles and multiple vehicle burglaries.

Jones is also charged with obtaining money by false pretenses, a charge that stems from the sale of two stolen items -- an Apple iPod and a Garmin GPS unit -- at a pawn shop Nov. 23 for about $100.

"When you sell anything to a pawn shop, you sign a contract saying the items aren't stolen," Crawley explained. "During the investigation we were able to determine the stolen items were sold to the pawn shop."

According to Crawley, this is the first time Salem police have tracked stolen property using GPS.

"This particular phone was able to send out a signal and you can go online and map it," he said.

Jones and Ramsey were being held in the Roanoke County-Salem Jail on Wednesday without bond.