PEABODY — Ryan Papillon had a pattern, prosecutors say: Break into a church or parochial school and steal petty cash or small objects.

He had done it at least 14 times in his criminal career, including the Fourth of July weekend in 2002, when he burglarized the parochial school at St. John's Church.

Yesterday, Papillon, 31, of Revere, pleaded guilty to breaking into the church school, damaging several vending machines and stealing a ladder, a compact disc player and a cell phone. He was sentenced to three to five years in prison, followed by five years of probation.

Assistant District Attorney Greg Friedholm said he believes Papillon's reason for targeting so many church properties is simple: A church is "an easy target" with little security and lots of petty cash lying around.

Papillon's lawyer hinted at a more complicated motive but declined to go further.

On the morning of July 6, 2002, a custodian at the Peabody church discovered the burglary, which occurred sometime that weekend.

Peabody police scoured the scene and collected evidence, including two cigarette butts left at the scene. They also obtained phone records for the stolen cell phone, which pointed to Papillon as a suspect.

But investigators thought that the phone records wouldn't be enough to prove Papillon's guilt, and the case went cold.

Then, in 2007, while Papillon was serving a sentence in another church burglary, his DNA sample was entered into a statewide database.

Investigators compared DNA on the cigarette butts to Papillon's DNA and were able to match the two. Then, nearly five years after the burglary, they were able to obtain an indictment against Papillon.

Friedholm told Salem Superior Court Judge David Lowy that Papillon's record involves churches all over Middlesex and Suffolk counties.

And while Papillon may be a drug addict who needed money to support his habit, "he was cagey enough to find a particular kind of victim."

Friedholm said he does not believe Papillon had any broader agenda, such as an anger at the churches, which were both Protestant and Roman Catholic. He noted that none of the churches was desecrated in any way.

Defense lawyer John Apruzzese acknowledged Papillon's drug problem but also suggested that there was another reason for his client specifically targeting churches.

"I'm not going to go on the record as to why," he told Lowy.

Lowy ordered Papillon to submit to random drug tests and stay away from the church after his release.