NICEVILLE, Fla. (CBS Tampa) – A local man who tried to rob a convenience store – then asked his mother for a getaway ride home – was arrested for his attempted crime.

The would-be thief was identified as Zachariah Dalton Howard, age 22, by the Florida Sun Sentinel.

According to a police report obtained by the paper from the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, Howard entered the Thumbs-Up Convenience Store late last month and demanded money.

He went so far as to threaten the cashier by saying he had a firearm in his possession. The clerk reportedly denied him though, then showed him an empty cash register, before Howard left the premises.

He went to a nearby Winn-Dixie and allegedly called his mother for a ride home after the failed robbery attempt.

Howard was arrested several days later in relation to the incident, the release noted, and charged with one count of robbery.

During processing, he claimed that he did not actually have any weapons on him during the incident, and that he only got the idea to hold up the store while en route.

The release did not mention if his mother escorted him home from prison.