A man in Oregon who stole thousands of N95 masks, the respirator recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as a precautionary gear against the coronavirus, was arrested Saturday, police said.

At least 20-25 boxes of the respirators went missing on March 6 from The ReBuilding Center, a hardware store located at 3625 North Mississippi Avenue in Portland. Each box contained at least 400 masks amounting to nearly $2,500 worth of total loss, Portland Police Bureau said in a statement.

The store’s owner noticed an advertisement on online classified listings platform CraigsList on March 7 regarding the sale of what she believed were the stolen masks. She informed Beaverton Police Department who then arrested the suspect, identified as Vladislav V. Drozdek, 22.

Police said about 6 boxes of the masks were recovered initially. Seven more boxes were recovered in a follow-up investigation carried out jointly by the two departments on March 21.

“PPB was able to locate at least 7 more boxes that were stored inside a house in the 13900 block of Northeast Sacramento Street,” the statement added. The masks were returned to the store’s owner who later donated them to local hospitals to help deal with the outbreak.

Drozdek was booked into the Washington County Jail under Theft in the First Degree charge, according to the statement.

Police said there was a possibility of further arrests and charges.

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