Butler police obtained a felony arrest warrant Wednesday for a suspected repeat shoplifter who is accused of making off with cigarettes last month from a convenience store on West Jefferson Street.

The defendant, James C. Firestone, 39, of Gans, Fayette County, was identified in part due to social media, authorities said.

Police were called around 10:30 p.m. Dec. 8 to the A-Plus, according to court documents, where a man had reportedly grabbed four packs of Newports off the counter and fled. The cigarettes were valued at a combined $32.65.

The suspected thief was captured on security footage at the store, said police, who subsequently posted a photo of the suspect on the department's Facebook page and asked for the public's help in identifying him.

Someone, police said, recognized the man as Firestone. In a message via Facebook, the tipster also identified the business in the city where the suspect worked, documents said.

But when an officer later checked at the business, he learned that Firestone had quit several days earlier. An employee allegedly confirmed that the defendant was the man in the surveillance photo.

Police said they checked Firestone's criminal history and found that he had two prior shoplifting offenses in 2018. Due to that past record, police charged him with a felony count of retail theft.