After a grand jury investigation, the Allegheny County district attorney narrowed in on the group of three men and two women. A joint police task force used a tracking device to follow Timothy Sunday, who authorities said was the mastermind of the group, from one crime scene to the next.

Undercover officers staked out several of the burglaries as they happened. Police ultimately used divers to recover a cluster of stolen video poker machines, safes and ATMs that were dumped in the Allegheny River from the 62nd Street Bridge after the burglars emptied them of cash.

District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. said yesterday, “We don’t have a lot of these type of burglaries. The guys who are career guys. They try to leave as little mark as possible.”

Mr. Sunday, 47, of Etna, was already being held in the Allegheny County Jail on a federal detainer.

He is charged with 25 burglaries, 13 theft counts and 25 counts of criminal conspiracy in break-ins at establishments that include pubs, hotels, corner markets, two American Legion halls, a pizza parlor, a bowling alley, a gasoline station and three private residences known to have safes. The crime spree includes burglaries in Allegheny, Butler and Westmoreland counties.

The lesser players, according to Mr. Zappala, include Mr. Sunday’s girlfriend Stacey Hanus, 45, of Etna, and Mr. Sunday’s younger brother, Michael Sunday, 45, of Shaler, both of whom were arrested Tuesday. Two others are James Marvin “Sonny” Watson, 67, who was still at large and police believe is in the Charleston, W.Va., area, and Margaret “Peggy” Reynolds, 45, who also was at large.

The investigation began when police noticed a string of burglaries in the North Hills beginning in September 2007 that shared the same odd elements.

The burglars painted their faces with black paint, wore masks and gloves and carried crowbars. They used heavy chains to haul machines to a waiting vehicle. Police believed the perpetrators would case the locations, which were mostly isolated, and bust down the door, sometimes by slamming a stolen car into it to create an opening large enough to remove a safe or other machine containing cash.

According to the grand jury findings, Timothy Sunday was known to police in Shaler and surrounding jurisdictions as “a career criminal who specializes in burglaries.” He had been released from the State Correctional Institution Fayette a few months prior to the crime spree and the crimes matched his usual methods.

A detective from the district attorney’s office headed a task force that included state police and officers from Pittsburgh, Shaler, Indiana Township, West Deer, Etna, and the Northern Regional district in Hampton. Investigators identified burglaries dating to December 2004 that matched the same pattern.

In April 2008, Common Pleas Judge David. R. Cashman authorized three search warrants for residences and one for a vehicle. The judge approved a tracking device that police used to trace Timothy Sunday’s movements.

Using information from confidential sources, investigators observed several of the burglaries as they took place. Mr. Zappala said the police knew that it was not Mr. Sunday’s style to inflict violence on others and they took this into account in deciding to build a case before arresting him.

The thieves’ string of successes ran out when they tried to hit Preston Volunteer Fire Department in Stowe on Oct. 2, 2008. Stowe police, responding to a burglar alarm, arrested Mr. Sunday after they spotted him crawling out of the firehouse window with a police scanner, pry bars and a grinder.

Fire Chief Mike Stepek recalled that the burglars ripped an exhaust fan off the window to the kitchen to climb in, but once they were inside the burglar alarm alerted police.

They caused a couple thousand dollars worth of damage but took nothing.

“We were very fortunate,” Mr. Stepek said. “It could have been a lot worse, but police were Johnny-on-the-spot.”

Etna Police Chief William Grover said Mr. Sunday had previously been incarcerated for similar robberies. He grew up in Shaler and later “lived in a very meek house in West Etna” with his girlfriend, Ms. Hanus. He believed Mr. Sunday planned the burglaries to support a drug habit and remained unemployed between prison stints.

Chief Grover noted all the meticulous effort that went into organizing each crime. “For all the planning he did, he probably would have been better had he got a job. It was pretty extensive, I can say that.”

Mr. Sunday and his associates are charged with 28 burglaries between December 2004 and October 2008. Mr. Zappala said he could not estimate the monetary loss.

In addition to the 25 burglaries that Mr. Sunday was charged in, his brother Michael was charged with four burglaries, three theft counts, four counts of conspiracy, a firearms violation and receiving stolen property. Michael Sunday was being held in the county jail on $50,000 bond.

Ms. Hanus was charged with burglary, conspiracy and theft on a residence in Indiana Township. She was released on $10,000 straight bond.

Mr. Watson was charged with two burglaries, one at a residence and one at a business, plus two counts each of theft and conspiracy.

Ms. Reynolds was charged with burglary, conspiracy and theft in a residential break-in.

But the bulk of the evidence the task force amassed points to Timothy Sunday, the man the district attorney said cooked up the string of invasions.