A McFarland man was arrested after police said he stole a woman 's purse and camera, then mailed her a ransom note demanding she leave $300 in a certain library book if she wanted to see the items again.

"It was different, " said McFarland Police Detective Jesse Crowe, who helped intercept the scheme. "If there are mental health issues involved with this, we 'll make sure he gets help with that. "

The man, Rick L. Divita, 40, will make an initial appearance Thursday in Dane County Circuit Court on felony charges of burglary and making threats for the purpose of extortion.

In a complaint filed Tuesday, police said the woman on May 30 reported that her purse -- containing her keys, driver 's license, checkbook, credit cards and a $1 bill -- was stolen overnight from her unlocked car, which had been parked in her open garage in McFarland. A few days later, she realized a $400 camera also was taken.

On June 3, she found the ransom letter in her mailbox. Its opening words were: "Is having your purse, all its contents and the camera back worth something to you?"

The letter instructed her to put three $100 bills in page 100 of a book titled, "The Hockey Handbook, " at the McFarland library "by 7 p.m. Wednesday, " the next day, and "all your things will be returned to you by Thursday. " Helpfully, the note even included the Dewey decimal number for the book.

Crowe and a police assistant instead put three $1 bills in the book instead, with one end of the bills sticking out of the book to hopefully lure the man in. "We 've had a lot of garage burglaries and we really thought this was our guy, " he said.

It worked. Sort of.

A few days later, Divita was caught on the library 's surveillance system retrieving the book and leaving with the $3. It turned out he wasn 't responsible for the string of burglaries, Crowe said, but catching him was its own reward.

"It 's one of the reasons we do this job, " he said. "You never know what you 're going to find. This was a unique case. "

Police said Divita confessed after being shown the video and ransom letter. The complaint said he told police it was "thrilling " to find the purse as he wandered the neighborhood after visiting some bars, adding that it was "very exciting " when he got the idea the next day to "fashion a ransom note, " rather than go to work.

Oddly, before even mailing the letter, Divita put the woman 's purse by a trash bin near a custard shop, he told police, just as he promised he would do in a second note found in the library book. Crowe confirmed the purse was found there, all its contents intact except the $1 bill.