Every once in a while you see a story that makes you just shake your head. As the education director for both in-class and online stop theft classes I see and hear about these stories all the time.

Late last year a Tennessee man was arrested after stealing $15 worth of T-shirts from a Family Dollar store. Evidently his day did not begin with the idea to go shoplifting, however, his home had been burglarized and he needed to get a new lock for his door. So, how did this 37-year-old genius do this? Of course he drove down to Fred’s Discount store and stole a new lock. Police noticed the stolen lock as they arrested him for the stolen T-shirts. He was arrested and charged with two counts of shoplifting. He was released on $1,092 bond. Was stealing $26 worth of items worth it? Another story that had me shaking my head involved a teenager in South Carolina. No surprise, this theft occurred at Walmart. The teenage shoplifting suspect, 18-year-old Lexi Bass, fought with deputies after she allegedly stole $350 worth of toys and cell phones flushed the packaging down a toilet, causing it to overflow.

Police searched her purse and found two Hot Wheels cars, a Samsung Express cell phone, a Nokia cell phone, chargers and cell phone SIM memory cards.

The manager told authorities that Bass took the items out of their packaging and then tried to flush the casing down the toilet, the report states. The toilet began to overflow instead.

Bass tried to run away, but the deputy grabbed her. Kicking and screaming, Bass kept struggling with the officer until he took her to the ground and handcuffed her. As deputies escorted her outside, she continued to yell and scream and tried to pull away from a deputy. She was placed into a patrol car and began kicking against the glass barrier. She was charged with shoplifting and resisting arrest and released on a $2,500 bond. Again was it worth it?

I hope both thieves get mandated to take a theft-awareness classes to help her become a better citizen.