A belated confession and a stolen safe recovered in a wooded area off the Edgartown-West Tisbury Road led to five arrests this weekend in connection with a two-year-old burglary at the E.C. Cottle lumberyard on Lambert’s Cove Road in West Tisbury.

Kristen K. Brown, 22, of Chilmark, a former employee of Cottle’s, decided she could no longer keep quiet about her role in the 2007 burglary and contacted Chilmark police early Saturday morning, which set off a chain of events involving the West Tisbury, Chilmark and Yarmouth police departments, as well as Massachusetts State Police.

Ms. Brown called Chilmark police chief Brian Cioffi on Saturday and asked him to meet her at a private residence in West Tisbury, during which she reportedly revealed her role in the Cottle’s burglary in which someone made off with a built-in safe that weighed approximately 500 pounds and contained close to $10,000.

Although West Tisbury police questioned Ms. Brown after the break-in, she was never charged and the investigation remained open for the past two-plus years.

The confession led to the arrest of Kevin J. Rocheteau, 27, of South Yarmouth, Shawn Ramoutar, 33, of Vineyard Haven, Patrece Peterson, 35, of Vineyard Haven, and Raymond J. Edwards, 38, of Hyannis.

All were charged with breaking and entering in the night-time to commit a felony, breaking and entering into a depository (safe), receiving stolen property, larceny over $250, and conspiracy to commit a crime. For her role in the theft, Ms. Brown was charged with the same offenses.

According to court documents, Mr. Rocheteau came up with the idea for the theft.

He would visit Ms. Brown while she was working at Cottle’s and ask her questions about the safe, which was in clear sight in the office. Mr. Rocheteau said it would be “real easy” to steal the safe because there was no security camera, and speculated he could use the tools hanging on the wall to break the safe open and steal the contents.

According to court documents, Ms. Brown left the office window unlocked on the evening of June 2, 2007, allowing Mr. Rocheteau to slip in undetected after hours. Once inside, however, he was unable to gain access to the safe, and instead loaded the safe into a van owned by Mr. Ramoutar and drove to Mr. Ramoutar’s family home on Skiff’s Lane in West Tisbury.

There Mr. Rocheteau and his uncle, Mr. Edwards, were able to crack the safe open and remove the contents. For her role in the scheme Ms. Brown was paid $1,000, according to her statement.

The next morning the group turned on Mr. Rocheteau and demanded he get rid of the safe immediately. Using Mr. Ramoutar’s van, the five suspects eventually dumped the safe in a wooded area off Oyster Watcha Road in Edgartown, where it was recovered by police this weekend with the help of Ms. Brown.

West Tisbury police Sgt. Dan Rossi said the safe was empty when it was recovered. The owners of E.C. Cottle are currently assembling records to determine the exact amount of money that was in the safe. It convicted, the suspects will be required to pay restitution to the owners.

West Tisbury police chief Beth Toomey lauded the work of Chilmark, Yarmouth and state police as well as her own department.

“The Chilmark police department received information and then reached out to several other [departments] that led to these arrests. We had heard little things here and there over the past two years about [the burglary], so when we had the opportunity to talk to someone we were able to work with the other police departments and act on it,” she said, adding:

“This was a great example of cooperative police work.

The five suspects were arraigned in Edgartown district court earlier this week, where pleas of not guilty were automatically entered on their behalf. Ms. Brown was released on personal recognizance after her arraignment Monday; Mr. Ramoutar was initially released on $200 bail following his arraignment on Tuesday.

Mr. Edwards appeared in Barnstable district court on Wednesday and was released on personal recognizance.

Mr. Rocheteau was initially held on $10,000 bail in Dukes County Jail while Mr. Peterson was held on $5,000 bail. Both were due back in court yesterday.