Would-be thieves accused in a string of break-ins in Dawson City have some advice from their victims try another line of work.

A pair of teenage boys is charged with breaking into four businesses early Tuesday morning and stealing a van belonging to another company.

'I'd have to say they were bungling thieves,' Tim Gunter, owner of Circle Cycle, said in an interview from Dawson today. 'I hope they don't take it up as a living, because I think they'll go hungry if they do.'

As far as he can tell, the laborious, unskilled break-in to his storage shed resulted in some damage to the door and some bike gloves and hats stolen.

The Dawson City Youth Centre, Ray of Sunshine Variety Store and Northern Metalic were also broken into.

'These guys are size 12 boots and a size four hat, I think would be a nice, polite way to describe them,' said Dale Leyten, the Northern Metalic employee who arrived at work Tuesday morning to discover the front door window smashed.

It's been a while since Dawson had a rash of break-ins, Leyten said.

'Whatever we lost is minimal, besides our time and the broken window,' Leyten said. Staff will be giving the RCMP a repair bill so anyone convicted can be asked to pay restitution, Leyten added.

It wasn't until Gunter phoned Northern Metalic Tuesday they even realized they were missing a pair of crimpers he found in his shed.

Most of the stolen items were recovered in two outdoor stashes, said Sgt. Tim Ashmore, who heads up the Dawson RCMP. On the missing list were numerous watches, sunglasses, tools and bike items.

'We're still trying to get a complete inventory on what's missing, but we believe we recovered most of it,' said Ashmore.

Two boys aged 14 and 16 are charged with three counts of break, enter and theft, one of theft over $5,000 for the van and a further charge of break, enter and commit mischief.

The last criminal charge is for damage done to the Dawson City Youth Centre. An unlocked back door allowed entry to the centre, and fire extinguishers were set off inside the building.

It doesn't look like anything is missing from the youth centre, said Ashmore.

The thieves had been drinking, Ashmore added.

Police arrested two teens later on Tuesday at a local residence, not their own. Neither can be named under federal legislation protecting youth before the courts.

Both were released to their parents and will be making their first court appearances in Dawson April 6.

A van belonging to the 5th Avenue Bed and Breakfast also fell victim to thieves. It was taken from the driveway, complete with unlocked door and keys in the ignition.

'When they took the van, they only managed to get it maybe 50, 100 yards,' said Ashmore. 'They got it out of the driveway and they stepped on the gas too quick and kind of lost control. Buried it in a snowbank and got it stuck there they couldn't get it out.'

The front panel had some damage from the collision with the snowbank.

'So they took it really quickly and abandoned it really quickly.'

Investigation determined the same individuals were responsible for all four break-ins and the van theft, the sergeant said.

The first thing Gunter noted Tuesday morning when he examined his broken-into storage shed was a large tool leaning 'prominently' against a bike. He thought initially they were bolt cutters, but were actually crimpers 'and not any good at all for cutting padlocks.

'They must have spent quite some time trying to get into my building,' said Gunter, who estimates his damage bill will be about $200.

'They went into the back of my pickup truck where I have a tool box and they were actually trying to saw their way through the hasp of the padlock with a hack saw blade not even attached to a hack saw and they got about an eighth of an inch of the metal ... when they gave it up as too much work, I suppose.'

The culprits tried with their own tools to pry the lock's hasp out, but only managed to crack the door frame.

'It looks again like they must have worked at it for several minutes before they gave it up as too much trouble,' said Gunter, chuckling. 'They just didn't have the right tools.'

Eventually thieves simply took the door off its hinges and pushed it in.

'Obviously, they had no experience at breaking in at all. It wasn't planned and they didn't know what they were doing it was obvious.'