VASSALBORO -- Two Vassalboro men are facing charges in connection with a pair of metal thefts from a Dam Road camp after being cornered by a Good Samaritan who reportedly caught the men in the act.

Justin Buckle, 19, and Wayne Weeks, 18, were both charged Tuesday with theft, Kennebec County Sheriff Randall Liberty said.

Buckle was issued a summons and released, Liberty said. Weeks, who fled on foot and attempted to hide from police in a nearby pond, was arrested and taken to the Kennebec County jail where he was later released on $1,000 bail.

The charges against Buckle and Weeks stem from a theft at a Dam Road camp last week, when an estimated $1,500 worth of metal was stolen, and Tuesday's attempted theft from the same camp, said Cpl. George Neagle of the Kennebec County Sheriff's Department.

Tuesday's attempt was reported when passerby Russell Marquis noticed a red Ford Ranger pickup truck at the camp.

"The pickup was loaded with aluminum gutters and an aluminum table," Liberty said.

Marquis pulled his vehicle behind the loaded pickup, preventing it from leaving, and confronted Buckle and Weeks. Both men started to run into the woods, but Buckle returned to the truck when Marquis yelled for the men to stop, Liberty said.

Marquis then called for the police.

Buckle, who was waiting for officers when they arrived, admitted to the theft, Liberty said.

Neagle and Trooper Blaine Bronson of the Maine State Police, working with their dogs Gibb and Rex, flushed weeks out of the woods, Liberty said.

"He jumped into the lake and submerged himself, attempting to hide," Liberty said. "His need for air outweighed his desire to escape."

Neagle and Bronson arrested Weeks when he surfaced, Liberty said.

Investigators are trying to determine if Weeks and Buckle are connected with other thefts in the area. Anyone with information is asked to call the Kennebec County Sheriff's Department at 621-0166.