(WWJ) The lottery pays, but crime does not.

That's the message from Bay County Sheriff Troy Cunningham after a couple who won $500,000 in the Michigan lottery in 2016 was nabbed and charged with a string of burglaries across five Michigan counties.

The sheriff says they were targeting empty houses, getting inside and stealing everything from cash to jewelry to lawn equipment.

Stephanie Harvell, 28, and Mitchell Arnswald, 29, were charged in Bay County District Court with single counts of second-degree home invasion and possession of burglary tools -- a crowbar and gloves they bought at Meijer just before their arrest. Bond was set at $50,000 cash-surety, which was not posted as of Monday morning.

The half-million-dollar windfall was supposed to be a happy ending for the pair who admitted they were living paycheck-to-paycheck. They got an eviction notice the same day they won on a $5 scratch-off ticket, they revealed at the time.

Gleeful with the win, the couple told the media they were going to pay bills and put some of their winnings aside to pay for college for their children. The kids are now being evaluated by Child Protective Services.

"I think CPS is now involved in that portion of it," Cunningham said.

So, what led to the family's sad descent?

"I can't really confirm that, but I believe that we suspect they have some kind of substance abuse," Cunningham told WWJ. He added they're not "doing a lot of talking" since their arrest.

They were caught after a team of detectives from the five targeted counties -- Bay, Arenac, Saginaw, Midland, and Tuscola -- decided to work together to put a stop to this collection of crimes that began about two months ago.

They developed a profile of the vehicle used in several of the burglaries.

When a woman called to say her home had just been broken into, detectives managed to find the vehicle at a nearby Meijer.

They say they saw the couple buy rubber gloves and a crowbar inside the store. When they left, detectives pulled them over and said they found a variety of stolen items in the vehicle, including a safe that had been taken the same day.

They were arrested without incident.