'Snake Burglar' Evades Motion Sensors, Steals $8k From Hair Salon in Southern California

A suspect dubbed the “snake burglar” by police has been successfully evading motion-triggered alarms in Riverside, California, and made off with $8,000 from a hair salon’s safe, along with products, early on November 26, police said.

Security footage sent to Storyful by Riverside Police on December 3 first shows the suspect entering the Rustic Roots hair salon on Indiana Avenue at around 5 am and crawling slowly on the ground through the premises. In that footage, the suspect is seen wearing a red cap and and dark hooded sweatshirt.

Officer Javier Cabrera, a public information officer with Riverside Police, told Storyful that the suspect managed not to set off the motion-triggered alarms that would have alerted police, and made off with products as well as $8,000 from a safe in the salon. The salon’s owner alerted police to the break-in after returning to work and reviewing their security footage.

The suspect also broke into a nearby veterinary clinic that morning, wearing a white T-shirt and without the red cap, Cabrera said. Further footage shows the suspect in a parking lot as he approached the veterinary clinic, and again crawling past cameras to try to avoid triggering alarms. Cabrera said the suspect kicked in a window at the front of the clinic to gain access, and again “slithered around the ground” to avoid detection. However, after about 10 minutes inside, he triggered an alarm and quickly fled the scene.

Cabrera told Storyful that two other local businesses were broken into that morning, and that the suspect in those burglaries may be the same person. He added that a nearby pizzeria was broken into about a week earlier, and when the owner checked the security footage they saw a man crawling along the floor. Credit: Riverside Police via Storyful