A pint-sized career burglar who has been in and out of cuffs since the age of 10 was busted in a new string of thefts — but was continually set loose to continue his sticky-fingered ways until he ditched a court-ordered drug program, law enforcement sources said.
Paul Schroeder – a 5-foot-4, 150-pound thief who sources say has 31 unsealed arrests for robbery, assault and criminal sale of a controlled substance – was nabbed on Jan. 24 after he allegedly ripped off random items including a Snickers bar and Goldfish crackers from a CVS store in Forest Hills, according to a criminal complaint.
The now 50-year-old thief had his first brush with the law in 1984, when he was linked to a burglary in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, sources said.
The then 10-year-old Schroeder was only 4-foot-3 and weighed 75 pounds at the time, according to the sources.
In the latest case – 40 years later – Schroeder was also accused of swiping a greeting card, a flashlight and medical wrap from the store shelves before stuffing them into the pockets of his sweater, the complaint states.