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IMAGES: Family sets up hidden camera, captures home invasion

Police are crediting a hidden camera that caught strangers inside a family’s home holding a wine bottle, going through drawers and carrying around the family dog.

The family set up the camera after repeated break-ins at their home.

The camera helped police arrest one teenager and have put out warrants for three others.

Channel 9 was in court Thursday as the suspect’s mother begged the judge to let him out of jail.

That mother cried in court, but the judge refused to lower his bond.

Robert Cutshaw Jr. will likely spend the night in jail after being accused of breaking into his next door neighbor’s house in Lowell.

Karen Hayter showed Channel 9 the $100 motion-activated camera that she hid on a shelf in her home.

Police said three teenagers stole wine, guns and a laptop, and then causally walked around the home for 35 minutes.

“They knew our schedule, someone was watching,” Hayter said.

The teens are also accused of taking cameras from the home, but they didn’t see the one that was recording every 15 seconds.

“We work hard for what we have just for somebody to take it,” Hayter said.

Hayter and her son showed Channel 9 the pictures.

“I was invaded. It’s our personal space,” she said.

The camera also captured the suspects carrying the family dog.

“They touched my best friend and basically threw him a a bathroom just to be locked up in the dark,” said Alan Hayter.

Police used the photo to identify Cutshaw.

“I will take full responsibility for him,” Cutshaw’s mother said in court.

Police said they returned some of the stolen items they recovered after arresting Cutshaw.

Police are still looking for the other three suspects. Two were caught on camera inside the home. Police said the other drove the getaway car.