Evidencing the old saying that “no good deed goes unpunished,” a woman tried to help a man in South Pasadena Thursday by letting him use her cell phone, only to have him reward her generosity by stealing it. Police jailed a suspect, however, and recovered the woman’s phone:

SOUTH PASADENA — Police officers — including one who was off-duty at the time — arrested a man Thursday after he asked to borrow a woman’s cell phone, then ran off with it, authorities said.

Kevin Pollard, 18, of Pasadena was booked on suspicion of grand theft, South Pasadena police Officer Kevin Sandoval said.

He approached a 23-year-old woman about 1:30 p.m. on Mission Street, just west of Diamond Avenue, and asked to use her cell phone, the officer said.

The woman agreed and handed Pollard the phone, police said, and he ran away with it.

South Pasadena police Cpl. Matthew Petersen, who had just left work after his shift, spotted Pollard running down the street and thought he looked suspicious, Sgt. Robert Bartl said. When Petersen confronted Pollard and identified himself as an off-duty police officer, he fled from the corporal.

Officers saw Pollard run into Grassroots Natural Market, 1119 Fair Oaks Ave., and arrested him inside, police said. He claimed he had been running because he was being chased by gang members.

The stolen cell phone was found in some bushes near where the off-duty corporal first confronted Pollard, Sandoval said, and the victim identified him as the thief.

According to sheriff’s booking records, Pollard was being held in lieu of $20,000 bail at the Pasadena Police Department’s jail. Information regarding his initial court appearance was not available Thursday.