On May 3, an employee at Lunardi's grocery store on Blossom Hill Road told Carrillo, the head clerk, that she recognized a man she thought had stolen something the day before.

Carrillo watched the man, and sure enough, he ran out the door carrying items he hadn't paid for. Carrillo ran after him and caught up around the corner of the shopping center.

"I grabbed him by the collar and spun him around," he said. "Then I heard tires screeching and looked up to see a Chevy Blazer pull up."

He and two employees had pinned the man down, but the Blazer's driver got out, wielding a knife. Carrillo told his co-workers to let the man go. The alleged thief and the driver got back into the vehicle and sped off.

They left behind a case that the head clerk picked up.

"He had probably about 30 boxes of cold remedy in there," Carrillo said.

The theft was probably related to illegal drug use and production, said Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Sgt. Mike Barbieri. The decongestant pseudoephedrine can be used to make methamphetamine.

"The use of that type of over-the-counter medicine is not new at all," Barbieri said.

Though it has been a problem for years, he said, pseudoephedrine abuse was put in the spotlight last month when Target Corporation announced it would be storing the drug behind its pharmacy counters.

The drug is found in Sudafed and other cold remedies and is often either stolen or bought in large quantities by abusers.

"I've been seeing it here for months," Carrillo said. "Clerks will call me over and say that people have been buying it two, three or four days in a row."

He even said there is a group of repeat buyers he recognizes to whom the store refuses to sell the drug.

Witnesses described the alleged thief as 40 to 50 years old, 5 feet 6 inches tall and 160 pounds. The driver was described as being in his mid-30s, 5 feet 8 inches tall and 170 pounds. Both men are believed to be of Middle Eastern descent. Anyone with additional information about the robbery is asked to contact the police department at 408.354.8600.