I have said it once and I will say it again – it is never OK to steal. Even when you cannot afford the presents your children want, stealing them is not an option!

Four unemployed, single mothers surrendered to police after they were seen on surveillance footage taking items from a Hawaii toy store before Christmas.

The women, ages 22, 25, 26 and 30, were arrested at the Kaneohe police station, near the Toys R Us where police say there were among a group seen hauling away about $1,000 worth of merchandise on Dec. 1.

The remorseful women took the toys as gifts for their children, he said, and that he made arrangements for police to take the 24 items, most of which were taken to his office gift-wrapped, to be returned to the store's manager.

Do you think they were truly sorry for their actions or just worried they had been caught?

Some of the women's children, all younger than 10, had received some of the toys as presents only to have them taken away. Nice parenting, right?

How do you explain to your 8-year-old that Santa’s presents were stolen?

One of the women is six months pregnant. A fifth single mother and a man were not on the island and are expected to surrender soon. It should be noted that the man is not a parent.

One of them had a job until news of her arrest got her fired.

This being the season of giving, one attorney is representing all of them pro bono. The attorney is hoping for leniency from authorities. The theft has drawn widespread attention, he noted, with a range of reaction from sympathy for the women's situation to anger because many other down-on-their-luck moms don't resort to stealing.

Several people across Hawaii have contacted the attorney each offering $500 to $1,000 to help the women, he said.

Stressing that it's not an excuse for what they did, the attorney said the women were desperate to "meet their kids' expectations," in a state that's expensive to live in.

I can certainly sympathize with the plight of these mothers. Nevertheless, what they did is plain wrong and a terrible model for their children and society.