FORT LAUDERDALE (CBS4) – The Broward Sheriff's Office has arrested two men wanted in connection with the thefts of dozens of valuable brass water valves called "backflow preventers." There have been about 100 such thefts this month all over Broward County.

The men were caught after a BSO Oakland Park sergeant, on patrol in the 4500 block of N. Dixie Highway at 3:00 a.m., stumbled upon a location where a backflow valve had been stolen and water was gushing out.

A backflow preventer keeps dirty water from leaking into the clean water supply.

The BSO sergeant noticed there wasn't a lot of water on the ground and thought the suspects might still be in the area. He was right. He spotted two men in a white Grand Marquis leaving a warehouse complex.

According to BSO spokesperson Keyla Concepcion, the rear of the car was dripping water, had mud on top of the trunk and appeared to be holding excessive weight. In addition, the sergeant noticed both men were soaking wet.

"Their story was they were coming from the beach and wanted to change their clothes because they were wet," said BSO sergeant Richard LaCerra.

Inside the car, deputies found an ax and 26 brass water valves in the trunk. Each one is worth about $230, according to Broward Sheriff's Office detectives.

Deputies canvassed the warehouse complex and found 5 locations where the valves had been stolen from.

The suspects, John Martin, 29, and Gannon Wing, 20, have confessed to stealing the valves, according to BSO.

Each has been charged with loitering or prowling, but additional charges are expected as the investigation continues.

Plumber Aaron Osborne said he's had to fix at least half-a-dozen broken valves in the past couple of weeks. He said the cost to repair and install new valves is anywhere from $1200 to $1500.

Just last week, BSO released surveillance video of a man using an ax to steal a brass water valve. It's unknown at this point whether either of the two suspects is the same man in the video.

Detectives from at least six jurisdictions in Broward and one from Palm Beach who had such incidents happen overnight will be looking at the stolen items to determine if the suspects were the culprits in their cases.