A man accused of running a “nationwide, organized retail crime scheme” in which he allegedly stole $350,000 in leaf blower and drill batteries had his cover blown by the Murrieta Police Department (MPD).

The MPD detailed the suspect’s scheme in a social media post on Wednesday, saying officers were recently called to a Murrieta Home Depot in Riverside County for what seemed like a standard shoplifting incident.

Except, it wasn’t.

According to the MPD, when patrol officers arrived at the home improvement store, they spoke with a man who had just bought a leaf blower, walked it out to his car, removed the battery, and “then returned it like nothing happened.”

“But here’s the twist, this wasn’t a one-time thing,” the MPD’s post explained. “This was part of a nationwide organized retail scheme.”

Investigators said the suspect had been traveling across the U.S., shopping at various Home Depot and Lowe’s stores, using the same strategy every time he bought battery-powered tools like leaf blowers or drills: “Buy it, remove the battery, return it, repeat.”

“What started as a shoplifting call quickly turned into something a lot bigger,” the MPD’s post read.

Just in the Murrieta incident alone, police found $477 worth of stolen batteries inside the suspect’s car.

The suspect told officers he had only stolen “about five” batteries, but the MPD said the estimated loss linked to the suspect’s nationwide scheme is around $350,000 worth of batteries.

Officers arrested the suspect for theft, including felony charges for organized retail theft, the MPD said.

The police department’s social media post included audio from the dispatcher’s call to officers, saying how the man had been repeatedly pulling the battery scheme. The post also included in-store surveillance video of the suspect buying the leaf blower, followed by police body cam video of the man’s arrest and images of the stolen batteries found in the man’s car.

“Organized retail crime isn’t just shoplifting, it’s coordinated operations that cost businesses hundreds of thousands of dollars and ultimately impact everyone,” the department’s post read.

The suspect’s name was not released.