Thief breaks into YMCA, steals fake cash from toy register

INDIO, CA (KTRK) -- Police are on the lookout for a brazen thief who broke into a YMCA through the ceiling to steal cash from a register. The trouble is -- neither the cash nor the register were real.

Security footage captured the man kicking through the duct work in the ceiling of the YMCA Child Development Center in Indio, California, KESQ-TV reports.

He then drops to the floor to break into a cash register, stealing all the money inside before making a daring escape out the door.

There's just one problem: The cash register in question is a children's toy, filled with play money that is worth next to nothing.

The Indio Police Department believes this might not be the first acoustic ceiling tile-crushing caper this cat burglar has sunk his claws into.

"Thieves tend to have specific MOs, with stuff that they follow and stuff that they are comfortable with. They don't get caught doing it once and they figure, 'Hey, it's a tried-and-true method,' and then they stick to it," explains IPD Sgt. Dan Marshall.