MADISON HEIGHTS, Mich. -- A 41-year-old woman is receiving praises by police and the community after she tackled two thieves who robbed her neighbor's house, and held them down until police arrived on the scene.

"I grabbed him by the T-shirt and held my fist to his face. I was ready to kick his butt," Carole Penzabene said after she thwarted the attempted robbery.

Police responded to a Madison Heights home in the area of 12 Mile and Dequindre roads around 11 p.m. Wednesday to find a 20-year-old man and an 18-year-old woman pinned to the ground by Penzabene.

The couple was arrested and is waiting to be arraigned Friday on breaking and entering and home invasion charges.

Penzabene told Local 4 she became suspicious when she saw a strange man walking in and out of her neighbor's home at night and placing garbage bags in a parked car, especially since the homeowner was out of town, she said.

When Penzabene approached the man, he told her he was in the neighborhood looking at birdhouses.

"So I grabbed him up and told him he ain't going to be going nowhere," Penzabene recounted. "Then his girlfriend came out, and I grabbed her up and said, 'Both of you ain't going nowhere.'"

In the meantime, Penzabene's friend called the Madison Heights police.

The man attempted to hit Penzabene as she was holding him down, but she was able to grab the female suspect. She told the man, "Go ahead coward, hit me."

Penzabene said the man started crying. "I guess he was kind of threatened by me, which is good," she said.

Penzabene was able to subdue both suspects until the police arrived.

When Local 4 asked why she risked her life to stop the robbery, she said, "Because he's my neighbor and he would have done the same thing to me, I believe." They have been neighbors 30 years, she said.

Brave Woman Tells How She Thwarted Neighbors Home Invasion