UTICA -- A Utica man is under arrest after police say they found him hiding in the closet of a drug store high on ‘bath salts’.

According to Utica Police, on Thursday afternoon around 3:00 officers were called to the Walgreens on Genesee Street for a report of a possible robbery. Police say when they arrived store employees told them that a man was attempting to purchase syringes when he grabbed them from the clerk, ran into a janitor’s closet, and locked himself inside. When the officers opened the door they say they found the man, indentified as 23-year-old Mathew Shepard of Deerfield, wearing only his underwear and a t-shirt and no shoes.

Police say Shepard was holding the syringes and appeared to have just injected himself. Police arrested Shepard and found him to be in possession of the synthetic drug known as ‘bath salts’. He has been charged with misdemeanor petit larceny.

This is the fourth report involving 'bath salts' that Utica Police have issued in the past ten days, following incidents on Downer Avenue, Court Street, the Radisson Hotel on Genesee Street, and Parkside Court.