A suspected credit card thief tried to outrun Nebraska Furniture Mart security guards, but didn't plan on extra guards being there.

Waiting to pick up a computer, this fraud suspect looked like a cool customer until a uniformed security guard came his way.

“At that time he had a good little lead on me, but I was confident I could catch up to him,” says security officer Jason Lanni. “I made a good effort catching up to him."

The suspect led Furniture Mart security officers on a foot chase across a parking lot and then through cars backed up for a weekend event. It was a good day to shop, but not steal because he ran right into extra security handling traffic.

“If we chase somebody, it's going to be in a safe manner,” says Loss Prevention Manager Jim Cahill.

“What he didn't realize is that all the traffic was shut down, moving slow. It was a perfect opportunity to take him into custody. We knew he wasn't armed. He wasn't displaying anything as we were chasing him. We had him on video the entire way and getting a play-by-play from the video operator on what's going on."

Thirty-eight-year-old Jonathan Carlson of Omaha was apprehended after calling in an order to purchase an expensive laptop. The Furniture Mart credit card number he gave had been reported invalid months ago.

Catching the alleged credit card thief began with a telephone sales rep who spotted a red flag and asked questions without tipping off the suspect.

The Mart's sales staff is trained to be cool on the phone when a suspected scam artist is on the other end of the line. “Asking the right questions,” says phone staff manager Joe Kiolbasa. “The key is not to tip off the actual fraudulent caller and just get as much info as we can."

During the foot chase weaving through stopped traffic, a driver got out of his car to help apprehend the suspect. Furniture Mart security officers say that for safety's sake, it's their job to assist customers and not the other way around.

It's believed Carlson once owned a carpet cleaning business and it's suspected that is how he obtained a customer's credit card number. The police report indicates officers found a fake ID in his vehicle.