It's 2:40 a.m. on the Sunday before Christmas, and several families apparently don't know where their children are.

These particular teens are in Tamaqua, riding ATVs in the South Ward section of the borough.Police were alerted to a suspicious vehicle that morning and attempted to stop an ATV, which was in the 200 block of Race Street.The ATV fled at a high rate of speed. The driver blew through stops signs as the vehicle turned on Oak Street and headed for the mountain. The vehicle made it into the woods and the driver killed the ignition. Unable to see or hear where the ATV was hidden, officers took up wait-and-see positions in the area. A short time later, two males walked out of the woods, headed north on Oak Street.The teens were stopped and identified. They initially said they were coming from a friend's house, but changed their story to just "going for a walk."Despite the smell of burnt gas coming from their clothes, the smears of grease on one's cheek and the mud on their clothes, both denied knowing anything about an ATV.While the teens were being questioned, the 15-year-old's cellphone kept begging for attention with calls from one particular friend.The teen then told police he and his friend saw police chasing the ATV and followed, wanting to see what happened to their friends on the ATV.They identified those teens as a 16-year-old from Tuscarora and a 15-year-old from West Penn Township, which included the friend now trying to reach them by phone.Officers took the two males home and explained the situation to their parents.As for the two on the ATV, the West Penn parents were reached immediately, then took their son to the station later in the day to receive his citations.The parents of the teen from Tuscarora were unable to be reached until later in the day.When told their son was being cited, and for what, both parents denied their son's involvement, even providing an alibi for his whereabouts during that time. They were told the citations would be filed anyway on the information received from the other three teens.Later that day, the "innocent" teen called police to admit his involvement, explaining that he and his friend fled, hid and then spent the night on the mountain to avoid being caught.