Well, we’ve got a lock for worst criminal of the year, folks.

Officers arrested a repeat-shoplifter in SODO on Wednesday after he tried to wheel a shopping cart full of stolen items out of a home improvement store right in front of police, only to dash to his getaway car and realize he’d dropped his keys somewhere inside the store.

Officers were rolling through the store’s parking lot, in the 2700 block of Utah Avenue South , around 9:15 PM when they saw an employee struggling with a suspect over a shopping cart full of items.

Police got out of their patrol car to contact the 25-year-old suspect, who ran from officers and led them on a brief foot chase through the lot. The suspect ran to a vehicle and tried to get inside, but soon realized he had dropped his keys

The suspect ran back inside, apparently to look for his keys, but a staff member had already retrieved them and handed them over to police.

When the suspect emerged from the store a short time later, police took him into custody.

Police believe the suspect had stolen over $1,500 worth of items from the store, and booked him into the King County Jail for felony theft.