An alert off-duty St. Helena police dispatcher helped police nail a man whom police say tried to make off with two baskets full of stolen groceries.

The dispatcher noticed a man, later identified as William Nez, walking out of the Safeway store in St. Helena with a hand basket full of groceries that he did not pay for, St. Helena Police William Imboden said.

“She watched him stash the basket of groceries in the bushes near the store and eventually walk back inside,” he said. “She called police.”

While Nez was outside, he changed his shirt and then went back inside the store.

Since his first trip was so successful, Nez apparently gave it one more shot, according to Imboden.

He re-entered the store and proceeded to fill up his basket one more time, Imboden said. “By this time, police had arrived and were trying to find Nez in the store.

“Because he had changed his clothes, it was a little difficult to find him at first. But we finally did find him in the store, and he was positively identified by the dispatcher,” Imboden said.

Officers searched the bushes and found the grocery basket, which contained milk, wine, beer, chips, coffee and turkey, among other items.

They also searched his car and found the clothes he had worn the first time he went into the grocery store.

Nez, 26, of St. Helena, was arrested on suspicion of burglary.