OLD TOWN – A man jogging Saturday near the YMCA unintentionally helped police catch a shoplifting suspect when he refused a $50 offer to retrieve the alleged thief’s car.

Gabriel Ouelette, 22, of Greenbush was summoned for misdemeanor theft after allegedly taking a bottle of hair rinse and a face cleanser from a store.

An employee of the Family Dollar store on Stillwater Avenue reported about 9:45 a.m. Saturday that a shoplifter had left the store with some items, according to Old Town police.

Ouelette allegedly filled out a return slip using the name John Atkinson but signed it “Gabe Ouelette” before fleeing with the items, according to police.

When police arrived, a Family Dollar store employee told them he had followed the suspect into the Hannaford supermarket in the same plaza but that the suspect had left through an area restricted to employees at the back of the store.

Officers Lee Miller and Michael Holmes followed footprints in the snow around to the front of the YMCA. An employee there said a man matching Ouelette’s description had come in but quickly left.

As police left the YMCA, they encountered the jogger, who said the man had offered him $50 to fetch his car. The jogger said he refused the man’s offer.

Police found Ouelette standing nearby outside a store at the strip mall.

Ouelette denied stealing anything, police said Saturday afternoon, and told officers he ran because he was scared. He also told police he used a false name on the refund form because he didn’t want people bothering him.