This year, Halloween was bound to be a bit more of a subdued occasion at the Petito family home. The kids of the house have all grown older, so the desire to spruce up the place with scary decor had mostly disappeared.

“Our house [was] not decorated for Halloween at all,” mom Jennifer Petito told The Dodo.

But the spooky season spirit hadn’t run dry for everyone.

Just ask the Petitos’ dog, Bear.

A couple of weeks ago, the Petitos began discovering random Halloween decorations mysteriously placed around their porch and front yard — things like pumpkins, styrofoam tombstones and ghost figurines.

Bear, who was recently fixed and wears a “cone of shame,” seemed an unlikely suspect for all this clandestine Halloween decorating. Though he has access to the backyard at night, it’s fenced in without an obvious means of escape.

Turns out, however, Bear had a secret.

It all became clear one night when the Petitos’ doorbell camera alerted them to someone out front.

“When I opened the door, Bear was standing there, all proud, with a styrofoam tombstone, wagging his tail,” Petito said.

It’d been him all along.

Later on, the family discovered that Bear had dug a hole beneath the back fence wide enough for him and his cone to squeeze through.

“It took us a while to figure out how he kept getting out,” Petito said.

As for the decorations, Petito surmised that Bear was stealing them from people in the neighborhood. She began posting photos of the pilfered items on a local chat group so they could be reunited with their rightful owners.

“The neighbors have all been great so far,” Petito said. “Everyone thinks it’s funny.”

Bear had been busted. But thanks to his sneaky Halloween crime spree, what might have been an ignorable holiday for the Petitos became something unforgettable instead.

However, they’re hoping the crime spree ends there.

“We just had [a new fence] installed the other day,” Petito said. “So, hopefully everyone’s Christmas decorations will be safe.”