LINCOLN, Maine — An officer’s memory was credited Tuesday with helping police return a handgun and most of $10,000 cash reported stolen from an Enfield Road residence during a burglary for which two teens were charged.

Brent Pelkey, 18, of Lincoln, was charged with Class B burglary and Class B theft on Monday in connection with a robbery reported that morning. A 15-year-old boy was referred to juvenile authorities on the same charges, Lincoln police Sgt. Glenn Graef said.

Pelkey was also charged with committing a burglary at that address in August 2012, when he was a juvenile, Graef said. When he responded to the reported burglary on Enfield Road at about 5:50 a.m. on Monday, Officer Jeff Rice saw the kicked-in front door and remembered the earlier incident, Graef said.

“It was same exact thing that had happened before, last year at about the same time,” Graef said Tuesday. “With a lot of these crimes, the same people commit them over and over, and they do them the same way, so we already have a good idea where to start.”

Pelkey told investigators that he, the 15-year-old suspect and another 15-year-old Lincoln teen spent several thousand dollars of the alleged stolen money during what Pelkey called “a shopping spree” in Bangor. They bought bongs, gas masks and other drug paraphernalia, plus candy and sneakers, Graef said.

The second 15-year-old might also face charges, Graef said.

With Detective Mark Fucile having already collected a fingerprint and other forensic evidence at the residence, he and Rice interviewed Pelkey, who Graef said confessed to the crime.

Pelkey told police that he threw the .32-caliber gun out of the car he was driving back from Bangor after his mother telephoned to say that police were looking for him, Graef said.

Maine Game Warden Paul Farrington and his search dog later found the handgun off West Broadway or Route 2 near Mohawk Road, about where Pelkey said he threw it, Graef said.

Officers found most of the $10,000 cash in a vacant camp in Burlington owned by a friend of one of the 15-year-olds. A money bag found at the camp matched those kept in the Enfield Road residence, Graef said.

Graef expressed satisfaction at the quick return of the stolen property to its owners.

“We had [Pelkey] in custody and were gathering all the property within eight hours,” he said.

Pelkey was held overnight at Penobscot County Jail before a family member posted his $500 bail. He is due to appear at Bangor Judicial Center on Sept. 12, Graef said.

The 15-year-old charged with burglary and theft is due at Lincoln District Court on Aug. 20, Graef said.