A bizarre break-and-enter at an adult boutique in Courtenay has been the talk of the town after a man smashed his way in looking for a very specific sex toy.

The theft was caught by surveillance cameras at Sexy Kitten Boutique after-hours last Wednesday, according to the store's owner, Janel Debalinhard.

She believes the man, appearing to be in his mid-60s, used a hammer to break into the store before making off with a foot-long rubber sex toy – and more.

"He happened to snag a pair of panties on the way out but he dropped them at Money Mart, right in front of the cameras," she said.

Upon watching the footage, Debalinhard said she instantly recognized the man as a customer who had come in several times to size up the item.

"This man looked very suspicious," she said. "He came in multiple times to look at it, and actually to measure it, and then he left one afternoon and said he'd be back."

She said the toy the man was after had actually been sold in the hours before the theft, while the toy stolen that night was significantly larger.

Debalinhard posted a tongue-in-cheek missing poster in her store offering a $10 gift card for the safe – and unused – return of the stolen toy.

But it ended up being the store owner herself who cracked the case wide open on Tuesday.

"I went in to get a coffee in a local coffee shop downtown and he happened to walk by me, so I got in my car and I followed him until the cops came," she said.

The man was arrested on the spot and police say he has since been released on a promise to appear in court.

Debalinhard said plenty of people have been commenting on the unusual theft, and it's even resulted in some extra business at her shop.

"It's been really great, my store's been busy, I've had lots of customers coming in here," she said. "Lots of giggles as well…For a strange item like this, it's definitely lightened the town up a little bit with some good jokes."