California police arrest Snake Burglar amid growing frustration

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (CBS, KYMA/KECY) - A slithering, sneaky theft caught again! Riverside police are fed up with the 'catch and release' happening in their city.

They say this so-called Snake Burglar has committed 70 break ins. But police say sentencing laws allow the snake burglar and other criminals to be repeatedly released back into the wild.

It's a signature move that's earned him quite the nickname. The "Snake burglar" has been slithering around in the dark, creeping across the floors at the Riverside businesses for two years now, police say.

After prying open window panes to break into them, on his belly, so he doesn’t set off motion detector alarms, and hacking into to their safes with an angle grinder.

"Pulled apart the molding for the window and pulled the glass off and crawled his way through.
It's just bizarre and it's frustrating," said Brian Perrone, co-owner of D'Elia's.

Catching up to him

In the attached video, here he was on April Fools Day, flicking his feet, as he shimmied into a lower window at D'Elia's Frinders in the Orangecrest neighborhood in Riverside.

Perrone said its paying off for this career criminal because he keeps getting released from jail.

"I want that job! ha ha. you know? Right? I wish I could steal thousands of dollars and go home the next day," Perrone said.

But his shenanigans caught up to him this week when police finally found him in the act.

Slink around the system

They say 32-year-old Christopher Michael Jackson is responsible for 70 commercial burglaries in Riverside.

He was recently ordered to serve six sentences of 16 months in jail after pleading guilty to 23 felonies, but California law has allowed him to get out after serving only 10 days behind bars.

"We're gonna wait to see what happens in court, if he gets released," said Ryan Railsback, Riverside police officer.

Railsback says these non-violent criminals know how to slink around the system, pleading guilty to some of the charges so the others go away. So now people prosecuting these cases have to get creative to keep them off the streets.

"We're gonna start sending them over incrementally, so he doesn't have a chance to plead all of
them. If he gets kicked out of jail due to overcrowding, well he's not gonna be on the streets long
before he has more warrants out for his arrest," Railsback added.

The Snake Burglar's bail has been set at $100,000. Perrone wonders if he has the cash saved up to get out on his own.