Two 19-year-old Ulster County, New York men were led to jail Thursday in the same police cruiser they allegedly smashed up in January.

But the pair may never have been caught, New Paltz police said, if an upstate woman had not received some curious photos by accident.

She was expecting photos of her daughters in Halloween garb. She got photos of a felony instead, police said.

‘’It seems there was a mix-up in the processing lab,'’ New Paltz Detective David Dugatkin said.

Andre Fernandez of Kerhonkson and Joseph Ruggiero of Stone Ridge were each charged with second-degree criminal mischief, a class-D felony.

The photos allegedly show the two Ulster County Community College students smiling while in the act of causing $5000 worth of destruction to a police cruiser left at a local repair shop.

Feces were left in the car, police said, detailing a long list of damage that allegedly took place in the lot of Tom’s Repair Shop on South Putt Corners Road.

All the windows were broken, along with the car’s emergency lights, headlights and taillights. The roof was dented. The hood was pierced. Radio wires were cut. The sideview mirrors were removed.

Police said the woman, who manages the campus bookstore at the State University of New York at Oneonta, received the alleged evidence photos by accident.

‘’It seems it is just a coincidence that the photos ended up there,'’ Dugatkin said. ‘’The Konica Lab in Maine handles photos from hundreds of stores in the Northeast.'’

New Paltz police said they received the photos this week from SUNY Oneonta police. New Paltz patrol officers were then able to identify the suspects, Dugatkin said.

Dugatkin said the men confessed to being drunk at the time of the incident, but beyond that, ‘’they didn’t have a specific reason.'’

Arraigned Thursday afternoon by Town Justice Bartlett Wagner, the suspects were sent to Ulster County Jail in lieu of $5,000 bail each. Both are scheduled to reappear in town court Monday.

‘’We’re very happy they got caught,'’ Tom Johnson, owner of the repair shop, said. ‘’What goes around comes around, sooner or later.'’

The damage was extensive, he said.

‘’They beat it up,'’ he said. ‘’There wasn’t a piece of glass left in it.'’

Both the detective and New Paltz Police Chief Ray Zappone said the suspects were transported in the restored cruiser because ‘’it just happened'’ to be available.

Town Supervisor Don Wilen recently authorized funding for leasing four new police vehicles next year, meaning the fleet will likely spend less time at Tom’s Repair.

He said he hopes community service might be part of any sentencing. Restitution would go mainly to the town’s insurance company, he pointed out.

‘’I trust in the process,'’ he said regarding Wagner’s proceedings.

Story courtesy of Gabriel J. Wasserman and the Poughkeepsie Journal