A homeless man in San Francisco credits the Drudge Report and his “photographic memory” for helping to nab two inmates who escaped from an Orange County jail – a feat that’s expected to bring him $140,000 in reward money.

Matthew Hay-Chapman was near the intersection of Haight and Stanyan last Saturday when he noticed a plain van with fogged windows and missing license plates, he said in a video posted to SFGate.com.

“I’ve heard this story about these notorious fugitives,” Hay-Chapman said. “Boom, this guy pops out of the van. I had seen him in the news, actually on the Drudge Report, that’s where I saw the photograph of this man … the other day.

“I said, that’s the guy! That’s the Iranian escapee, Hossein Nayeri – I don’t know how to say his last name,” he continued. “I said to myself, that’s two people. I’ve slept in my work van just like that so I knew there’s two people sleeping in that van.”

The men, Nayeri and fellow inmate Johnathan Tieu, escaped from Orange County Men’s Central Jail in Santa Jan. 22. Nayeri previously fled to Iran after he allegedly conspired with two other men in 2012 to brutally torture and maim a marijuana dispensary owner in the Mojave Desert. Nayeri’s ex-wife worked with the FBI to lure him to Spain in 2014, and he was intercepted during a layover in the extradition-friendly Czech Republic, the New York Daily News reports.

Hay-Chapman told the San Francisco Chronicle he had been living in Golden Gate Park’s botanical garden. A combination of family tragedies and severe back pain that prevents him from working contributed to his homelessness.

Hay-Chapman said he regularly stopped to check news online at the library and at the news stand near the Whole Foods where he spotted the fugitives Saturday.

Hay-Chapman said he followed Nayeri, 37, into McDonald’s and sat at a table to observe him for a moment while Nayeri waited in line.

“I knew I had time,” he told the Chronicle. “I studied the man … because I wanted to be 100 percent sure before I go and alert the authorities.”

Convinced he was right, Hay-Chapman flagged down a police officer outside the store who was temporarily distracted by a medical emergency. Nayeri emerged a short time later with a cup of coffee, according to the news site.

“I call it his last taste of freedom,” Hay-Chapman said. “McDonald’s coffee is worth a lot, and he paid for it.”

Hay-Chapman watched Nayeri walk calmly into the parking lot and momentarily crouch between two cars.

“Now he pops up and he starts to walk calmly across Stanyan,” he said. On the other side, “he bolts and he runs into the park. Man, the guy was running right toward the police station.”

Hay-Chapman motioned to police across the street with his cane.

“I’m like this flagging him down,” he told ABC 7. “And I point and he sees me. He’s across the street, directly across the street. And I’m going (gestures) cause I’m right behind holding my cane like this. Body language, boom! That’s the guy!”

“He bolts, the officer on foot bolts after him. Another officer comes over in his cruiser. I said, ‘They’re that way!'” Hay-Chapman continued.

Police arrested Nayeri in front of the police station, and went back to the van, where Tieu, 20, was still waiting.

“Nayeri, who had been held on aggravated mayhem, kidnapping and torture charges, and Tieu, who was facing gang-related murder and attempted-murder charges, were returned to authorities in Orange County,” the Chronicle reports. “The third fugitive, Bac Duong, 43, had turned himself in Friday in Santa Ana.”

“God bless him for having courage and for being that observant and that sharp,” Police Chief Greg Suhr said of Hay-Chapman, adding that he’s expected to receive rewards from the county Board of Supervisors, U.S. Marshals Service and the FBI for the tip.

Hay-Chapman said he plans to use the money to rebuild his life, help his son struggling with drug problems as well as his disabled daughter and two grandchildren in foster care.