Police are looking for a man who walked into a 7-Eleven armed with a rifle and left with a fistful of cash.

The robbery happened around 11:45 p.m. Thursday at the convenience store in the 1900 block of Sierra Avenue.

The man, wearing a blue-hooded sweatshirt with the hood over his head and white scarf that covered the lower part of his face, parked his light blue or gray Honda Civic four-door near the front door of the store.

The man removed a rifle from the trunk of his car and entered the store while talking on a cell phone, police said. After he took the money from the cash register, he left the store, placed the rifle back into the trunk of the Honda and drove west on Sierra Avenue toward Highway 29, police said.

The man is described as tall and thin.

Anyone with information is asked to call Napa police at 257-9223.

Chemical spill

A chemical spill at the city of Napa’s water treatment plant on Friday afternoon brought in a phalanx of responders, but posed no threat to the city’s drinking water, which is stored at nearby Lake Hennessey, according to Napa County Fire Battalion Chief Barry Biermann.

Firefighters responded to the hazardous material spill around 3:45 p.m. at 1000 Sage Canyon Road.

The spill involved a chemical added to the drinking water to get rid of algae, Biermann said.

Biermann said the chemical is mixed in drums.

“Somehow the drum was left unattended, the water that was being added to the chemical overflowed and 2,600 gallons went into a nearby creek,” he said. “The creek is well below Lake Hennessey. The water in the creek wasn’t moving, so the spill was contained to the that area.”

Biermann said by the time the liquid hit the creek it had been dramatically diluted.

The city called in a private environmental clean-up firm to resolve the situation.

Two caught in grocery heist

Two women tried to pull a fast one at a South Napa Marketplace grocery store, but they were the ones who got stung in the end.

Stacey Lairson and Robin Hodgson found themselves sitting in a jail cell after police took them into custody on Thursday afternoon.

Their troubles started when they went into Raley’s supermarket and bought close to $100 in merchandise, police said.

The women left and returned to Raley’s later that afternoon. They took the same exact items from the shelf and placed them in a Raley’s bag, police said.

Then they showed the original receipt to the clerk and asked for a refund, police said.

They were given the $96 refund, but were detained by store security, who sensed there was something just not right about the transaction, police said.

Police arrived and took the women into custody.

Lairson’s woes didn’t end there. Police discovered the car she had driven to the store had been reported stolen out of Pittsburg, and there were three rifles in car that she said belonged to her boyfriend.

Hodgson, 46, of Napa, was arrested on suspicion of burglary and conspiracy.

Lairson, 28, of Concord, was arrested on suspicion of burglary, conspiracy, possession of a firearm and possession of stolen property.

Drug deal foiled

Police responded to a report of drug deal going down on Thursday afternoon at the creek at the east side of the Napa Town Center.

When they arrived they contacted Sheila Marie Pohlman, who turned over a manila envelope from her purse. The envelope contained several individually packaged bags of methamphetamine, police said.

Pohlman also was found to be in possession of two hypodermic needles and syringes.

Pohlman, 29, of Napa was arrested on suspicion of felony possession of meth and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.

Vandalism arrest

A Napa resident reported early Friday morning that the window of his car had been shattered. Police responded to the 200 block of Piedmont Avenue and were told Paul Weeks was seen walking away from the vehicle just after the window was shattered, police said.

Officers contacted Weeks and found him to be in possession of a wrist rocket — a form of a sling shot, police said.

Weeks, 34, of Napa was arrested on suspicion of felony vandalism.

Roving patrols

Napa police officers will be out in force, starting Sunday and going through next Friday, looking for traffic violations in certain areas.

Speed enforcement will be on Cabot Way, Soscol Avenue, Lincoln Avenue and West Pueblo Avenue.

Officers in marked patrol cars will be keeping a watchful eye for red light runners at Soscol and Imola avenues, Third, Second, East avenues, Jefferson Street and the corner of Soscol and Trancas avenues.

Funding for the patrols comes from a grant received from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.