Officials believe they’ve solved a string of unarmed robberies in Oakland County with the arrest of a brother and sister.

According to the Waterford Township Police Department, detectives from the Waterford/White Lake townships’ special operations unit took a 20-year-old male and 21-year-old female into custody at around 10 p.m. Thursday night as suspects in robberies that happened in retail parking lots in Commerce Township, Auburn HIlls and White Lake Township. Force was used to steal purses from female victims in at least two of the crimes, police said, causing minor injuries.

The 20-year-old was on parole for a similar offense at the time of his arrest, police said.

The most recent robbery was in White Lake Township near the Marshalls store at 310 Town Center Blvd. on July 9, police said. Detectives spotted the suspects’ vehicle shortly after the robbery and a short pursuit followed, but it was quickly terminated, police said. The suspects were subsequently located at separate residences based on surveillance, and the 21-year-old was arrested without incident, police said. However, her brother fled the residence where he was located and ran through several backyards before he was found hiding behind a garage and taken into custody, police said.

Both are charged with unarmed robbery and larceny in the Commerce Township and Auburn Hills incidents. Detectives will present the White Lake case to the prosecutor’s office for consideration of additional charges, police said.

The suspects’ names weren’t immediately available; arraignment is pending.

As stated in a news release issued by Waterford Township Police Chief Scott Underwood: “While these victims may have sustained minor injuries, it could have been much worse. We have no way of knowing how far these suspects would have gone or to what extent the violence would have escalated had we not been able to halt this string of robberies.”