In the past three weeks, four cars have been stolen and as many as twenty have been broken into in East Greenwich, according to police.

Two cars were taken from the same driveway on Boxwood Drive overnight Saturday. One of the cars contained case files from the state Attorney General’s office. The car and the files were recovered in separate locations in Pawtucket, according to Pawtucket police, about one mile apart.

The stolen cars belonged to a former state prosecutor who said the files had been left in one of the cars inadvertently, according to AG spokeswoman Amy Kempe.

“The files were cases in which sentences had already been handed down,” Kempe said Wednesday. “These files were cases that had been adjudicated.”

As for why the files, even ones from settled cases, would be in possession of a person no longer working for the attorney general’s office, Kempe said that should not have happened.

“There is simply no reason for any employee of this office to retain any case files or other office material after he or she leaves the office,” she said. “All case files are the office’s property, and we are in the process of determining why and what office materials may have been kept in this instance.”

EG police detective Jeremy Fague said the other stolen cars were taken from Ashbrook Run and Spring Valley Drive. There was also a car taken from Spencer Avenue in Cowesett, just north of Division Street.

“Two of the four vehicles have been recovered in Pawtucket,” said Fague. “Warwick PD as well as South Kingstown PD has had the same type of events take place in their towns. As of now we do not have any suspects or leads.”

Of the items stolen from unlocked cars, they include clothing, credit cards, and beach and work-related items. Police urged residents to keep their cars locked overnight and make sure valuables were out of sight.