WOONSOCKET –– They cut class at Woonsocket High School to break into a house — but it’s the homework that tripped them up.

Two 15-year-old boys skipped out of their class early Monday afternoon and broke into a house a half-mile away from the school, said Police Lt. Eugene Jalette. After stealing some game systems, Jalette said, the boys grabbed their backpacks and headed back to school — but one of them dropped his homework.

When Officers Joshua Smith and Brien Godin were called to 52 Hillsdale Ave. about the incident, they noticed the homework near the basement window, where the youths had broken in, Jalette said.

The homework didn’t belong to the homeowner — or anyone he knew — but the boy’s name on the paperwork was familiar to the officers, Jalette said.

By the end of the school day, the officers were at the principal’s office, where they arrested the two boys and also recovered the stolen items, Jalette said.

The boys were charged with breaking and entering, and released to the custody of their parents. Jalette said the officers are investigating whether the boys were involved in more than a dozen break-ins in that area that have occurred since September.

amilkovi@projo.com