A woman whose personal items were stolen by a group of teen boys was able to cleverly retrieve them, but says she doesn't want the young thieves to be charged because she sees "a kid that's going the wrong way."
While Faustine Onweneme was inside her favorite restaurant in Detroit, her car window was shattered, and her phone, wallet, work badge, and computer were taken.
"When I got home, something told me to call my phone, so I called my phone, and the thief answered," Onweneme told Fox 2 Detroit.
That's when Onweneme, a single mother to her own teenager, learned there were 14- and 15-year-old boys on the other end of the line.
"It was a blessing in a weird way," she added.
She texted and called the boys continuously, asking "Why me?"
"After 19 minutes on the phone, I talked to him, and he said, 'The least I can do for you is take your ID to this abandoned house off of Seven Mile and Evergreen, and I'll leave it in the mailbox for you,'" Onweneme recounted.
By this point, police were involved and shocked at the teens' willingness to comply with Onweneme. With officers' assistance, she found her phone in an abandoned stolen vehicle and discovered the boys had linked their social media accounts to it, allowing her to locate her stolen computer too.
Fox 2 Detroit reported it's unclear if the thieves will be charged.
"With it being a child, my heart was just different," Onweneme told Fox 2. "Most people would want to see them in jail or see them get criminal charges, but I just look at it as a kid that's going the wrong way."
Originally published by Latin Times.
