7-Eleven Owner Feeds Hungry Teen Caught Shoplifting Instead Of Calling Police

When a clerk sees someone apparently shoplifting, their first instinct is likely to call 911 and not think anything else of it. That wasn’t the case at a 7-Eleven in Toledo, Ohio, owned by Jitendra Singh.

One day at work, while Singh was in the back office, an employee let him know about a possible shoplifter in the store. Singh then hopped on the cameras in time to catch a teen try to pocket several items.

When Singh came out to the counter, the teen was paying for only a few items. Singh told CNN he then asked the teen to “take out whatever you have in your pocket.” The teen took out one item, which prompted Singh to ask him to take everything out otherwise he would call the cops.

After clearing out his pockets, Singh asked the teen why he was stealing the store’s products. The teen told Singh that he and his younger brother were hungry and needed to eat.

Singh then told his employee to hang up the phone, telling the teen, “That's not food. You're stealing gum and candies. That's just something for munching.” He proceeded to tell the teen to take pizza, sandwiches, nachos, taquitos, and chicken wings from the store, free of charge.

Singh decided against calling the police was because he didn’t want to ruin the boy’s life by sending him to jail just for trying to feed to himself and his brother. "Once you go to jail, you'll have a criminal record later in life. You're not going to be able to get any good job or anything," Singh told ABC13.

News of Singh’s actions has resonated online, with people taking to social media to praise Singh for his actions.