Four teenagers decided to play their version of post office last weekend, and as a result, Slidell police arrested them Monday for vandalizing 12 mailboxes in the Eagle Point subdivision.

The Slidell police got a call Saturday night from an Eagle Point resident that his mailbox had been damaged.

He told police he saw four male teenagers damaging other mailboxes in the neighborhood. The police went to investigate and discovered 11 other mailboxes that had been damaged. According to Slidell police spokesman, Capt. Kevin Foltz, the vandals had ripped the boxes from their posts and then thrown into the pickup truck of an Eagle Point resident. During their investigation, police found four boys playing basketball around the corner from the original complainant’s house. The boys said they knew nothing about the mailboxes, and the complainant could not positively identify the four as the vandals.

Then on Monday, investigators interviewed the four boys again in the presence of their parents. Foltz said the parents had spoken to their children and as a result, all four confessed to the vandalism.

“They were all very cooperative,” Foltz said. “The kids realized they had done something stupid.”

Foltz estimates that the mailboxes cost between $300 and $400 and had been installed several years ago when Eagle Point was under construction. He said the four families agreed to pay for the damaged mailboxes.

The identities of the boys were not disclosed, because they are juveniles. However Foltz said three of the boys are 16 years old, and one is 15. Only one of the suspects lives in Eagle Point subdivision, two others are from Slidell, and one is from Pearl River.

All four were charged Wednesday with 12 counts of criminal damage to property and then released to the custody of their respective parents.