Police arrest thief caught stealing play-money from YMCA

The man seen in surveillance video, stealing play-money from a toy cash register at the Indio YMCA, has been arrested by police.

Jacob Villanova Garcia, 29, was seen walking in the area of Arabia Street and Valencia Avenue on Monday, October 3rd. Indio Police detectives took him into custody without incident.

It was during the booking process when he confessed to police about the YMCA break-in on September 10th.

Garcia was booked into the Riverside County Jail in Indio and was held on $200,000 bail. Since then, he pled guilty to the crime and was sentenced to 16 months in state prison.

The surveillance video, obtained exclusively by News channel 3 and CBS Local 2, quickly went viral across the nation for the circumstances of the crime.

The story got so much attention, even the manufacturer of the toy register donated toys to the YMCA.