RUMFORD – A man swiped a pot plant from the back of a pickup truck that was being used by an undercover state drug agent, leading to a chase and drug theft charges against a pair of men.

Travis Child of Peru and Jeremy Belskis of Rumford, both 20, were arrested Wednesday afternoon after the pursuit ended at Child and Sons Auto Sales. The arrest was made by two uniformed Rumford officers while the plainclothes agent stood by.

Child told the Sun Journal newspaper in Lewiston that they had seen the pickup with marijuana plants in the back and that he hopped out of their car and swiped one of the plants at a stop sign. He said he just wanted “to know what it was.”

Child managed to get only part of one of the 4-foot-tall plants that had been seized earlier in the day, but the agent wasn’t going to let them get away with it, said Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.

“It was blatant the way they did it. One of them jumped out of the car in plain view and broke off part of the plant,” he said.

The pickup gave chase and Child said they were initially fearful they were being pursued by a drug dealer, not a law enforcement officer.

“It was a bad decision on our part,” Child said. “It was stupid.” Both of the men were released on cash bail.