SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - Note to burglars -- don't fall asleep outside the place you just burglarized with your vehicle full of the loot.

A pair of 17-year-olds in the Central California community of Winton were arrested and released to the custody of their parents on Friday after passing out in a haze of marijuana smoke outside of a construction site, their blue SUV packed with copper wires and other items from the property, police said.

The youths also had a loaded gun, which investigators determined had been stolen in March of this year, said Jason Goins, Undersheriff for the Merced County Sheriff's Department.

They were spotted in their car by a sheriff's deputy shortly after midnight on Friday, Goins said.

"There was a strong odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle," Goins said. "They were passed out and he had to wake them up."

The youths, whom Goins said were gang members, were arrested on suspicion of participating in a criminal street gang, possessing stolen property and having a loaded firearm in the vehicle.

"We've run across it before - people who are intoxicated or high on drugs passed out at the scene," Goins said. "It's not common but it does happen."





(Reporting by Sharon Bernstein; Editing by Sandra Maler)