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Woman Steals Merchandise Worth $600 From This Shop Owner Who Follows Her Home To Take It Back And Get The Shoplifter Arrested
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Woman Steals Merchandise Worth $600 From This Shop Owner Who Follows Her Home To Take It Back And Get The Shoplifter Arrested

Interview Woman Steals Merchandise Worth $600 From This Shop Owner Who Follows Her Home To Take It Back And Get The Shoplifter Arrested“Don’t Steal From Small Businesses Like Mine, Okay?!“: Store Owner Confronts Shoplifter In The Bus, Follows Her Home And Gets Her Arrested“Don’t Steal From Small Businesses Like Mine, Okay?!“: Store Owner Follows Shoplifter Home On Bus And Publicly Confronts HerBusiness Owner Shares How She Got A Shoplifter Arrested Who Stole Over $600 Worth Of Stuff From Her StoreA Tale About A Shoplifter Who Was Followed And Confronted By The Store Owner Goes Viral With Nearly 1M ViewsTikTok Video Goes Viral With Almost 1M Views As This Shop Owner Followed A Thief Home On The Bus And Got Her ArrestedWoman Steals Merchandise Worth $600 From This Shop Owner Who Follows Her Home To Take It Back And Get The Shoplifter ArrestedWoman Steals Merchandise Worth $600 From This Shop Owner Who Follows Her Home To Take It Back And Get The Shoplifter ArrestedWoman Steals Merchandise Worth $600 From This Shop Owner Who Follows Her Home To Take It Back And Get The Shoplifter ArrestedWoman Steals Merchandise Worth $600 From This Shop Owner Who Follows Her Home To Take It Back And Get The Shoplifter Arrested
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Most people choose not to buy an item at the store when they see that they don’t have enough money or consider the price to be too steep for what they would be getting. But there are individuals who can’t bear the thought of not having that item, so they take it anyway, but skip the paying for it part.

If you are stealing, then you should be prepared to be caught and face the consequences. It’s never pleasant, but at the same time, it’s not pleasant for the shop owner to get their merchandise stolen either. So this one shop owner chased a thief on the bus to catch her, filmed the process and shared the satisfying ending of the story.

More info: TikTok

Business owner Sophia didn’t go easy on a woman that stole from her shop and actually chased her

Image credits: itssophiamilan

Sophia Milan is a small business owner from Houston, Texas where she has a store called Erotic Cabaret Boutique selling costumes, lingerie, rave wear, swimsuits and adult-only items.

Recently, she had an incident when her employee noticed that a woman left the store without paying for the items she put in her bag. Luckily, the employee saw the bus the thief got on, so Sophia jumped in her car to chase the bus and take a ride confronting the crook.

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Image credits: itssophiamilan

Sophia’s employee noticed a woman stealing items from the store and saw which bus she took to leave

Image credits: itssophiamilan

The woman sat down next to the thief and pulled out her phone to capture the interaction on record. She loudly announced for the whole bus to hear that the woman she was sitting next to came into her store and stole some items. This must have been a sight for the unknowing onlookers and when Bored Panda reached out to Sophia, she told us the the other passengers “were all laughing and some were telling [her] ‘good for you!’

The thief tried to cover her face with her hands and avoid being filmed, as many people who know they did something wrong do, but Sophia grabbed them to pull them down and get a clear shot of the shoplifter’s face. Then Sophia proceeded to tell the camera that she would be following the thief to her home because she promised to pay for the items she took. As it turns out, “she did not try to pay, or give them back even after we told her to,” according to Sophia.

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Image credits: itssophiamilan

Sophia hopped into her car and drove to meet the bus and confront the thief

Image credits: itssophiamilan

While on the bus, Sophia was curious what the woman decided to take illegally from her shop, so she went through her purse to see what was in there. There lied over $600 worth of stuff. The businesswoman was exasperated when the shoplifter gave her a look indicating that she considered the shop owner crazy and was taking upon herself the role of the victim.

From what we can see in the video, it seemed that the lady was acting pretty calmly considering the circumstances and didn’t say much, but Sophia assured us that actually, “She wasn’t calm, she was in shock from someone finally holding her accountable for her actions.”

She announced to the whole bus that she was following this woman home because she had stolen from her shop

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Image credits: itssophiamilan

Image credits: itssophiamilan

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One of the last clips of the video shows the woman getting arrested by the police. We also find out from the description of the video that the police found “$300 worth of [items from] Banana Republic, stuff from Target, and Adam and Eve.” It was actually her employee who she went on the bus with that called the police.

The video went viral online and is approaching one million views. Since it spread around the internet, Sophia was reached out to by other 5 small local businesses saying that the same woman stole from them too, so it seems she has quite a serious stealing problem.

Sophia checked the woman’s bag and was met with a look saying that she was crazy for behaving this way

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Image credits: itssophiamilan

Although in general, the woman seemed pretty calm, only her facial expressions and body language betrayed how uncomfortable she felt

Image credits: itssophiamilan

Image credits: itssophiamilan

Commenters unanimously supported the business owner because while we can understand people who steal food or other life necessities because they truly don’t have money to buy it and they won’t survive if they don’t commit this crime, it seems that this is not the case for this lady. Sophia’s shop doesn’t sell any necessities; actually, her shop specializes in things that are meant to be used for fun. The shop owner also revealed to us that “She’s not some poor woman. She’s a paralegal with her own jewelry company. She’s also just a criminal.”

People who’ve seen the video admired Sophia’s courage and how she didn’t hesitate to defend her business, understanding that it could have turned out to be very bad if the thief had a gun or was mentally unstable. However, the shop owner told us that she wasn’t actually scared of it, “We knew she didn’t have any weapons on her and people were with me.”

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In the end, the woman was arrested and the police found even more stolen items from other shops

Image credits: itssophiamilan

Image credits: itssophiamilan

You may question Sophia’s behavior, how moral it was to follow a person home, go through their things in their bag and touch them when they clearly expressed they didn’t want their things and themselves to be touched. But you have to admit that chasing after a thief, confronting them like that and seeing them arrested is every business owner’s fantasy.

Also, Sophia is certain that she didn’t do anything illegal. The shop owner explained to us, “People have accused me of ‘stalking, doxxing, and assaulting her.’ Stalking is a repeated surveillance of someone and as you can see, this was a one time thing. Following someone to get my belongings back is not stalking. Doxxing is publishing private information on the internet, but as you can see,  none of her private info is anywhere. As for assaulting, meaning a physical attack, no, me moving her hand down is not assault.”

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You can watch the chase in the video below

@itssophiamilan The cops also found $300 worth of banana republic, stuff from target, and Adam and Eve….Don’t steal from small businesses like mine okay?! #fyp #thief #ftb #womenownedbusiness #karma #iknowilookamess #htx #houston #houstontx #montrose #montrosehouston ♬ original sound – itssophiamilan

Would you have been as brave as Sophia was? Do you feel that the shop owner stepped out of line with her behavior or do you think the woman who stole from her shop deserved to be treated the way she was? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

People in the comments were glad justice was served and were astounded at how brave the shop owner was

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Jurgita Dominauskaitė

Jurgita Dominauskaitė

Writer, BoredPanda staff

Read more »

Having started as a content creator that made articles for Bored Panda from scratch I climbed my way up to being and editor and then had team lead responsibilities added as well. So it was a pretty natural transition from writing articles and titles as well as preparing the visual part for the articles to making sure others are doing those same tasks as I did before well, answering their questions and guiding them when needed. Eventually I realized editing gives me the most enjoyment and I'm focusing only on that right now.

Read less »
Jurgita Dominauskaitė

Jurgita Dominauskaitė

Writer, BoredPanda staff

Having started as a content creator that made articles for Bored Panda from scratch I climbed my way up to being and editor and then had team lead responsibilities added as well. So it was a pretty natural transition from writing articles and titles as well as preparing the visual part for the articles to making sure others are doing those same tasks as I did before well, answering their questions and guiding them when needed. Eventually I realized editing gives me the most enjoyment and I'm focusing only on that right now.

Saulė Tolstych

Saulė Tolstych

Author, Community member

Read more »

Saulė is a photo editor at Bored Panda with bachelor's degree in Multimedia and Computer Design. The thing that relaxes her the best is going into YouTube rabbit hole. In her free time she loves painting, embroidering and taking walks in nature.

Read less »

Saulė Tolstych

Saulė Tolstych

Author, Community member

Saulė is a photo editor at Bored Panda with bachelor's degree in Multimedia and Computer Design. The thing that relaxes her the best is going into YouTube rabbit hole. In her free time she loves painting, embroidering and taking walks in nature.

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Tams21
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I worked in retail many years ago and a colleague ran after a shoplifter... and promptly had a knife pulled out on him. Following a shoplifter is a really really bad idea, please don't do it!

Midoribird Aoi
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Had this happen to a coworker as well. He was not hurt, but caught serious heat from the manager for it. Your life is not worth a five dollar sandwich!

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Beth
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don't agree with her putting her hands on the person. You don't put your hands on other people period unless they are attacking you. She definitely put herself in danger doing this but I get it. She should have called the police if it was really about getting the stolen property back. I think this was more about clout, shaming the thief, and going viral. If it was really about getting stolen property back, the police could have helped with that and made her empty her purse and charged her for stealing. I don't know, I just don't agree with how she went about this. But I do understand getting caught up in the moment and not thinking clearly, thus her doing what she did.

Ryan-James O'Driscoll
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If someone stole from me, they'd be dropped and pinned to the ground so long as I am able. To hell with the thief's personal space.

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StrangeOne
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is so stupid and dangerous. You're just setting yourself up with a counter-stalking charge, or even ending up in the hospital or dead. It's not worth it. Get a description and call the cops. If the employee knew what bus she got on the police can take it from there. They can follow the bus, alert the transit and they can dispatch the bus driver there is a suspect on the bus.

Eric Mac Fadden
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

People have to start reacting. In Brazil this kind of thing usually ends with the thief being beaten by everyone if caught, or the whole world will become California.

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Tams21
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I worked in retail many years ago and a colleague ran after a shoplifter... and promptly had a knife pulled out on him. Following a shoplifter is a really really bad idea, please don't do it!

Midoribird Aoi
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Had this happen to a coworker as well. He was not hurt, but caught serious heat from the manager for it. Your life is not worth a five dollar sandwich!

Load More Replies...
Beth
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don't agree with her putting her hands on the person. You don't put your hands on other people period unless they are attacking you. She definitely put herself in danger doing this but I get it. She should have called the police if it was really about getting the stolen property back. I think this was more about clout, shaming the thief, and going viral. If it was really about getting stolen property back, the police could have helped with that and made her empty her purse and charged her for stealing. I don't know, I just don't agree with how she went about this. But I do understand getting caught up in the moment and not thinking clearly, thus her doing what she did.

Ryan-James O'Driscoll
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If someone stole from me, they'd be dropped and pinned to the ground so long as I am able. To hell with the thief's personal space.

Load More Replies...
StrangeOne
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is so stupid and dangerous. You're just setting yourself up with a counter-stalking charge, or even ending up in the hospital or dead. It's not worth it. Get a description and call the cops. If the employee knew what bus she got on the police can take it from there. They can follow the bus, alert the transit and they can dispatch the bus driver there is a suspect on the bus.

Eric Mac Fadden
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

People have to start reacting. In Brazil this kind of thing usually ends with the thief being beaten by everyone if caught, or the whole world will become California.

Load More Replies...
Load More Comments
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