A man stuffed a clear plastic bag with hospital supplies Monday night and tried to walk out of the Samaritan Medical Center critical care unit with bag in hand, Watertown police allege.

Hospital staff halted the departure of Nicholas M. Schafer, 23, who was arrested on charges of petit larceny and seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. Mr. Schafer, whose last known address is listed as 236 N. Rutland St., was detained in the Metro-Jefferson Public Safety Building to await arraignment Tuesday in City Court.

Police said he placed in the bag 160 pieces of medical equipment that he lifted off a trauma cart, including 25-gauge needles, an anti-reflux valve and an adult nasal connector. Found in his pocket, police said, was an Altoids box containing Ambien, Ativan and Klonopin, also allegedly stolen in the ward. The drugs are for the treatment of insomnia, anxiety and panic attacks, respectively.

Mr. Schafer has at least three misdemeanor convictions, and is serving three years’ probation from a third-degree assault conviction in April 2011. He pleaded guilty in 2009 to petit larceny, for which he served probation, and another petit larceny in 2010, when he was ordered to serve nine months in jail.

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