SCARBOROUGH residents were woken by intruders during a series of home burglaries on Friday night.
Police believe one or two offenders entered a Burniston Street home through an unlocked garage door after midnight.
They tried to steal a car from the property before being disturbed by the occupants.
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READ NOWIt is believed they then headed to Scarborough Beach Pool, where City of Stirling security responded to an alarm on Saturday morning at 2am.
Security confronted two people armed with baseball bats in the facility’s main office and called police but they escaped on foot.
Police believe the suspects were involved in a subsequent burglary at a unit on West Coast Highway, where they demanded car keys from three women home at the time but fled without these.
They then allegedly broke in to an Ewen Street unit, stealing keys and a Nissan X-Trail SUV.
The car was found at 7.15am on Grand Ocean Entrance in Burns Beach, after police attended a home burglary on nearby Fourth Avenue.
A man was seen entering the home though an unlocked back door, where he tried to steal a handbag and car parked out the front.
The offender was confronted by one of the adult occupants who had been asleep, along with their children, who used his crutches to force the intruder to leave.
Officers attended shortly after and arrested a 36-year-old Quinns Rocks man who was in possession of the Nissan X-Trail car keys on Canunda Link, with the car found about 100m away.
He was charged with attempted stealing of a motor vehicle, breaching bail and stealing and has been remanded in custody to face court on July 29.
Police expect further charges may be laid following forensic investigations and are searching for a second offender they believed may be involved.