OROVILLE, Calif. -- An Oroville man believed to be part of a series of recent rooftop burglaries escaped capture by jumping from a 30-foot rooftop, sheriff's officials said Tuesday.

On Friday, police arrested two men in Oroville accused of being part of a theft ring that has struck 40 bars, card rooms, and other businesses during the month of August by cutting through rooftops.

But Adam McGregor, 36, escaped by jumping from a roof.

"Adam must have gotten very nervous that we were coming up after him," said Jim Hudson of the Placer County Sheriff's Department. "He decided at that time to jump from a 30-foot high building into a tree."

The tree limb then broke, and McGregor fell to the ground onto a chain-link fence with barbed wire.

"For most of us, we would have stopped right there, but he got up and ran across four lanes of traffic," Hudson said.

McGregor, who is from Oroville, may have visible injuries, officials said.

Law enforcement agencies in four Northern California counties are working to find those responsible for the serial rooftop burglaries.

Officials said the rooftop burglaries are all similar.

First, the power to the building being robbed is turned off and a location that bypasses alarms is found and cut on the roof, Hudson said.

The robbers then allegedly take an ATM machine or safe from the scene or use a plasma cutter on scene to open the safe.

Robberies have been reported in Yuba, Placer, Butte and Nevada counties. There have also been reports of robberies in the state of Nevada, officials said.

Three men in connection with the robberies have been arrested, sheriff's officials said.

Authorities said they are think there are three to four more people associated with the rooftop theft ring.