A struggling mother in Miami is receiving an outpouring of support after she was caught shoplifting by a police officer who decided not to arrest her.
Jessica Robles was unable to buy food for her three children and made the difficult decision to shoplift nearly $300 worth of groceries from a Florida Publix grocery.
Miami-Dade County Police Officer Vicki Thomas was about to arrest Robles, but then made the decision to purchase $100 worth of groceries for her and her hungry children instead. Officer Thomas told local news station WSVN-TV that:
“I made the decision to buy her some groceries because arresting her wasn’t going to solve the problem with her children being hungry.”
Robles’ 12 year old daughter started crying when speaking with WSVN-TV about their situation:
“[It’s] not fun to see my brother in the dirt hungry, asking for food, and we have to tell him, ‘There is nothing here.’”
But the story doesn’t end here. After WSVN-TV aired the story on Monday, there has been an outpouring of help from the community.
A viewer offered to take Robles shopping at Walmart on Tuesday. “You have $700, $200 from me and $500 from Restoration 1 of Miami, so you can pick out anything you want,” said Mayra Lapierre, who accompanied Robles inside the discount department store.
And then best of all a local business owner invited her in for an interview and ended up hiring her on the spot as a customer service rep.
You can watch the report below from WSVN-TV:
WSVN-TV – 7NEWS Miam Ft. Lauderdale News, Weather, Deco
You must be logged in to post a comment Login