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Man accused of stealing from five churches in Allegheny County

Five churches were targeted by a man police describe as a serial burglar.

Investigators say he'd commit one crime, go to jail, get out and do it again.

Surveillance video from inside St. Paul Catholic Church in Oakland last month shows someone stealing $200 from collection boxes inside the church.

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Police say it's Jeremy Jordan and the crimes didn't start there.

"He hit us on a Sunday morning, took $200 from votive candle vases," said Father Michael Conway with St. Richard's Roman Catholic Church in Richland Township.

He claims Jordan hit their church a couple of times last fall.

"Whatever he needed we could've helped him with, but he didn't ask," Father Conway said.

Police say Jordan stole from five churches, from McCandless to Pittsburgh, stealing donation money from all of them.

His first arrest was in July and he was only in jail a couple of weeks.

Bond was first set at $10,000, then reduced to zero.

He was arrested again Oct. 4, but given a non-monetary bail.

Documents show he was arrested again on Oct. 12, with a $5,000 bail, and was out two days later.

According to court documents, Jordan was arrested with drugs on him and admitted to police he had a heroin addiction and had been stealing money from them to feed his habit.

"Sure it's frustrating, but on the one hand he stole from us, didn't commit some kind of violent crime," Father Conway said. "People are doing desperate things because they have an addiction, they have a problem. We would love to be able to help them, but this doesn't help us help anyone."