Judges treat 2 career habitual criminals allegedly caught in the act like first time offenders

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas - Lengthy criminal records and stints in prison didn't stop judges from freeing two career habitual offenders allegedly caught in the act. 

What we know:

One of the two habitual offenders is on parole.

He was still given a get-out-of-jail free card soon after his most recent arrest.

26-year-old Adan Ruiz and 34-year-old Juan Serna have a lot in common.

"They're career habitual offenders," said Andy Kahan with Crime Stoppers. "They're property offenders. They break into cars and then flee from police."

That's allegedly what happened when the pair was arrested last week by deputies with Harris County Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman's office.

What they're saying:

"One of the responding units did spot the vehicle, at which time there was a short chase, and we ended up pulling the vehicle over," Herman said.

"Both of them have been to prison multiple times for felonies," Kahan said.

Dig deeper:

Both Ruiz and Serna were given probation for family assault.

According to court records, they did nothing to meet the conditions of their probation.

Instead of going back to prison again, they were unsatisfactorily terminated from probation.

"They could have actually been sent to prison for two to 10 years," said Kahan. "They were rewarded for being failures."

Even though he's out of prison on parole, Ruiz walked out of jail without paying a dime.

"Instead of keeping him in custody, he's given a general order bond, basically a get out of jail free card," Kahan said.

"Basically walks out of jail for almost nothing," said Herman. "He'll be back up to it again tomorrow. That's what we deal with. They keep playing the system, I should say, our system is allowing them to play the system."