Perhaps the suspect's choice of "getaway vehicle" — a shopping cart — had something to do with it.

Police were responding to a fire at Fat Daddy's Fastway, a Goldsboro, N.C., convenience store, around 2:30 a.m. on Oct. 9 when they spotted a man pushing a shopping cart.

The man attempted to flee, but didn't get very far.

"I don't know how fast you can run with a cart," said Capt. George Raecher of the Wayne County Sheriff's Department. "He quit pushing it and then took off on foot."

When cops apprehended Michael Paul Grady, 24, they discovered 20 cartons of cigarettes, lighters, candy and other assorted goodies among the hundreds of lottery tickets. He was charged with breaking and entering, larceny and arson.

Investigators speculate the blaze was set to prevent tracing the stolen lotto tickets, because the fire apparently began at the lotto machine, according to Raecher.

That effort, however, was futile, because lotto officials already keep track of ticket sales in a central database.

In addition to the tickets recovered from the cart, more lotto tickets were missing, according to Raecher, and someone attempted to cash in some of them while Grady is being held on $100,000 bail.

Based on these developments, police are investigating the possibility of a second suspect who got away in a car, not a cart, Raecher said.