SPRINGFIELD – Police, surveilling a section of the Sixteen Acres neighborhood early Tuesday following a rash of break-ins to unlocked vehicles, arrested 23-year-old woman after they allegedly spotted her riding a bicycle down the street laden with numerous stolen items.

Sgt. John Delaney said that when police spotted the woman pedaling on Vincent Street at about 3 a.m. she was sweating and carrying so many items that she could hardly ride her bicycle

Delaney, public information officer for the department, said that stolen items in her possession included: a computer tablet, gift cards, pens, earbuds, a leather case, iPod case, phone-chargers, a Nintendo DS game, a cupholder and bags of pumpkin seeds.

Delaney said officers Eric Ganley and Monique McCoy set up the surveillance in response to as many as ten break-ins reported to unlocked vehicles parked in driveways on Mallowhill Road and Groton and Parker streets.

None of the break-ins were forced.

Melissa Holister, 23, of 132 Vincent St., was charged with six counts breaking and entering motor vehicles and four counts of larceny over $250.

Residents are urged to keep the doors of their parked vehicles locked at all times.

Similar break-ins have been reported this summer in various communities throughout Western Massachusetts, including Longmeadow, Montague and Wilbraham.

Earlier this month, Montague Police Chief Chip Dodge took to the department's Facebook page and pleaded with residents to lock their vehicles following an overnight spate of thefts from vehicles in Montague Center and Turners Falls.