ELLSWORTH – Ann Simon watched the small black sedan pull up to one of the gas pumps in front of the Ellsworth Falls Food Mart last Saturday.

Simon, the store’s assistant manager, had seen the car and its driver before.

For several months dating back to last summer, the same young man has been coming to the Ellsworth gas station every couple of weeks, she said.

His routine was the same each time: He would pull up to pump No. 2, select the “pay inside” option and quietly pump his gas.

When he was finished, he just as quietly would drive off without paying.

“He was very calm, almost as if what he was doing was the right thing to do,” Simon said Tuesday.

The assistant manager and other employees had watched the man steal gas from the food mart at least 16 times, but last Saturday Simon was determined to catch the thief.

“He had already gotten away from me two or three times, so when he came in [Saturday], I said, ‘He’s not getting away this time'” said Simon, recalling the incident.

As the young man pulled up to pump No. 2 that morning, Simon instructed a fellow employee not to authorize the purchase. The thief briefly looked confused, she said, but then backed his car up to pump No. 4 and began pumping before that purchase could be voided.

At that point, Simon took off her apron, grabbed a shopping bag full of items and went outside.

“I was trying to act like a customer so I could get a better look at his license plate,” she explained.

Simon said she had tried on several occasions to read the license plate on the 1997 Toyota Camry, but each time part of the plate was covered with snow or dirt.

It wasn’t on Saturday, though.

The man drove off about a minute later, but by that time Simon had memorized the full license plate number. She called police, who tracked the car to Adrian Leach, 20, of Blue Hill.

Ellsworth police Officer Richard Roberts interviewed Leach the next day and the young man admitted to the thefts. He was issued a summons for theft and likely will appear in court later this month.

“The food mart had been keeping all the drive-off slips and they had quite a stack of them,” Ellsworth Police Chief John DeLeo said Tuesday. “It looks like he did it the first time and then figured, ‘Hey, that was easy.'”

Based on the receipts kept by the food mart, Leach had taken about $600 worth of gas since June.

“We’re losing our shirts because of gas drive-offs, so to catch even one person is worth it,” Simon said, adding that once Leach goes to court on the charges, the food mart will seek restitution.

DeLeo said most gas stations within city limits deal with a certain amount of gas drive-offs, although not to the extent that the Ellsworth Falls Food Mart had seen recently.

Leach, even at age 20, already has a criminal past.

In 2003, as a 16-year-old student at Blue Hill Consolidated School, he was accused of sexually assaulting a classmate with a disability.

As part of a plea agreement, Leach pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of simple assault and was sentenced to two years of probation.

Leach also has struggled with health problems his entire life. He made headlines about 15 years ago when, as a 5-year-old, he required major surgery to remedy a life-threatening heart condition.

The Blue Hill community raised $40,000 for Leach’s family to help pay for the medical costs.