One heads-up homeowner caught them in the act, but so far, no one is behind bars.

In just the past three months, this group of teens -- some as young as 13 -- have burglarized at least 80 homes. But because most of them are juveniles, and these are non-violent crimes, no one's even been charged yet.

It's frustrating for homeowners like Suzanne Rebro. Just two days ago, she caught five of the teens in the act.

"The car came down, dropped her off and then backed up out of sight," Rebro describes what she saw.

The M.O. is always the same: They scope out a neighborhood, then one young teen knocks on the door to see if anyone's home. Rebro was home working, but she'd seen news reports warning about these burglars.

"(I) looked up my back hill and I noticed that the car that dropped her off was driving up the hill and then parked," she said.

When the girl came back with two other teens, Rebro called 911. "Well, I'm talking to the 911 operator and I was really scared, I was in tears like, 'I'm afraid they're going to break into my house, they don't think I'm here and I'm here and I'm afraid they're going to do something.' "

In fact, Kent police tell KOMO 4 News that over the past three months, similar burglaries have happened 80 times in the East Hill neighborhood. Burglars enter an empty house in broad daylight, taking jewelry, money, CDs, laptops -- whatever fits in their backpacks.

Police think a loose knit group of teens, 13- to 19-years-old is responsible.

"That causes us a lot of concern," says Police Officer Paul Petersen, "because a couple of times they've confronted residents in their home."

Another thing that's unusual about these burglars is that they're hitting apartments. Usually places like this are off-limits because there's just too many people around. But this group is coming into stairwells, where they can't be seen from out front and when they knock on the door, if there's nobody home they break in.

Now after 80 burglaries, police have identified 27 people they think are involved. They've arrested 13. But no one's been charged yet.

Rebro's quick thinking prevented a crime at her house. But she still feels violated.

"You feel like 'Why am I the target? What is it about me and my house that made them think that they could just break in and steal stuff?"

Police say this group of teens has sent the burglary rate for the East Hill off the charts. They add they are dedicating a lot of resources to trying to put an end to this, but they've not had a lot of luck. And they say that people like Suzanne Rebro make all the difference.